Life in Bayville
by Violet Angel1
Summary: Haley Woodrow and her family move to Bayville. She’s a normal girl and it’s a pretty normal city, or so she thinks. Ironically, she becomes a mutant. So can she handle all the chaos both the X-men and Brotherhood bring? Can she handle her powers?
1. Moving In

**Disclaimer: **I don't own X-men: Evolution.

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Chapter 1: Moving In **

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I looked out the window of my _new _house. The moving van had just arrived and my dad was showing the movers where to put all our stuff. I had to admit the house was bigger than our old one back in San Francisco, but the fact didn't change that through my persistence, my dad refused to stay in California. We were now in _stupid _Bayville. 

My room was upstairs but I was currently in the kitchen with my mom who was unpacking all our kitchen stuff. Max, my younger brother, was playing with our Labrador retriever outside were the movers were working.

"Haley, could you hand me that spatula?" my mom asked.

I grabbed the spatula by its handle from one of the brown boxes and handed it to mom.

My stomach was churning with anticipation and nervousness. I would be a freshman in a new high school with different people. I wouldn't know one person and I'd be a loner sitting all by myself in the corner where all the cheerleaders could pick on _me._ I didn't think I was self-centered but all I could think about at the moment was _me_ – and _my _problems.

Max would be going to middle school. Middle school isn't as tough as high school and he'd be lucky because after middle school, at least he'd know enough people to hang out with in high school.

Just then Max and our Labrador retriever, Spike, came in. Max was holding a box full of my stuff. He impishly held up my diary and I quickly sped over and snatched it from him.

"I think it'll be fun here," Max smiled.

"No you don't. You were whining the whole plane ride over here. _I_ know, because _I _was sitting right next to you," I rolled my eyes and thought, (Unfortunately.)

Max frowned and continued. "When Spike and I were driving around with dad we saw this _huge_ mansion. I think it said something like 'institute' on the sign outside."

(Probably an institute for crazy people), I thought.

Dad came in hearing Max's last comment. He had a box full of sports stuff and set it down next to Spike.

"Xavier's Institute for Gifted Youngsters," my dad explained. "Mr. Fujioka, our neighbor, said it's a place for kids with a lot of potential. His daughter happens to be friends with one of the students there. I think he said her name was Jean?"

My mom beamed up from the kitchen counter. "Well, if it's a place for gifted children than our little Haley's going to have some competition."

Max rolled his eyes. Somehow I had become the smart one in the family, obviously by inheriting all the smart genes while my brother hadn't inherited one. I was taking honor classes and my parents were very supportive of my talents. They wanted me to participate in every extracurricular activity. Don't get me wrong. I liked being smart, as long as it would get me a successful future but there was too much hard work involved. I was born lazy, ok? Nobody was going to change that.

"Want to check out the mansion? It's huge!" Max exclaimed.

I shrugged. "Why not? Beats unpacking boxes."

Max and I waited outside for mom. She was going to drive us since dad had some work to do and she hadn't seen this "Institute for the Gifted" anyway.

We drove by and I became just as excited as Max when I saw the huge mansion. It was HUGE and I could tell there must have been very tight security. Just how many kids lived in that place including all the faculty members?

I was surprised to learn just four people lived there: two teachers and two students.

Taryn Fujioka had told me. She was our next-door neighbor. Her father had invited our family over to their house in order to get to know each other. Mom had made a casserole dish. Spike stayed back at the house with all our unpacked stuff.

"Just four people live in that huge mansion?" I asked, "What do they do with all that space?"

The raven-haired girl next to me on the sofa shrugged.

"I don't really ask Jean that much on her private life. I'm more interested in Scott Summers," Taryn explained.

"Who?" I asked.

"A junior this year like me. He is a huge hunk, only if he'd take his sunglasses off. I'm dieing to see what he's hiding behind them," Taryn said dreamily.

I didn't quite understand what she was talking about so I decided to bring up the subject on Bayville High.

"Bayville High's ok.We're having a football game on tomorrow. Our star quarterback is Duncan Matthews, Jean's boyfriend," Taryn said.

Star quarterback? A jock? So if Jean was dating a jock and Taryn was best friends with Jean it obviously meant she was popular. No way would I be sitting with Taryn Fujioka. One glance at me, and you could tell right away I was no popularity queen.

I had incredibly straight blonde hair and black glasses, framed around my green eyes. I usually wore brown, black, or white clothing that covered my pale skin. Not to mention I was insecure and shy around too many people. You could say I was partly claustrophobic.

Suddenly Max came running in. He said that we had to leave and I was relieved for that. I was really tired and couldn't handle too much conversation with Taryn. She was nice and all but a little too much on the snobbish side. Typical prep.

When we finally got home and I reached my room, my thoughts immediately went to the football game tomorrow, which was Saturday. School for me would start on Monday so going to the football game tomorrow would be a good way for me to meet new people. I noted to myself that I had to remember to ask mom bright and early tomorrow whether we could go or not. She was a doctor and wouldn't have to start her work until next Wednesday.

I put on my pajamas and snuggled under the covers of my rather bare room. My eyes closed and my thoughts slowly drifted. Both excitement and nervousness ran through me thinking about my new life. The new life I had begun in Bayville. Bayville, New York.

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**Violet:** I hope everyone who read this one chapter liked it. I'm really looking forward to some reviews. Remember read and review! R/R...RR... 


	2. First Impressions

**Disclaimer: **I don't own X-men: Evolution.

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**paprika 90: **Thank you SO much for your review! It means a lot. Yes, Jean and Scott are the only ones living at the institute – for the moment. This takes place a little before the actual first episode so there's still a lot to be covered.

**Readerrr Grrrl: **Whoa, those are a lot of R's. Anyway, thank you for your review and I will try to make the chapters a little more desiring from here on out. I'm a neat freak and I pay attention to everything (I'm bit of a paranoid), so that's probably why my grammar and spelling is good. And those are a lot of questions. To answer them, you'll just have to keep reading!

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**Chapter 2:** First Impressions

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On Saturday, Max was taking forever in the bathroom so I panicked trying to get ready for the football game. Not to mention I kept tripping over all our unpacked stuff. I crashed into Spike, our favorite Labrador retriever, twice. He didn't seem to mind the first time but the second time he was annoyed with me.

"Mom! Hurry Up!" I called, running toward the car.

Just then Max ran right in front of me, cutting me off.

"I call shotgun!" Max shouted and made his way to the passenger's side of the car.

"What!?" I yelled in disbelief. "You can't do that! It's _my_ school's football game."

"Yeah? But you don't even _like_ football, let alone go to a game?" Max countered.

I rolled my eyes. It was true. I _hated_ football. I had to play it a couple of times in P.E. and unfortunately _always_ ended up being pummeled to the ground. The worst part about it was I had to play _against _boys and _with _boys. They were always expecting something from you and _always_ yelling. I could just smell the pressure thinking about it. Not that you could actually _smell_ pressure…

"Max!" I whined, pulling him away from the door. Mom came from inside the house just in time and pulled us apart.

"Kids, if you don't stop fighting _no one_ will be sitting up front," Mom explained, annoyed by our behavior.

I crossed my arms and glared at Max. Unfortunately things didn't go exactly my way, so Max got to sit up front. I don't even know why he was coming. After all, it was _my_ school.

Once Mom parked the car I practically jumped out of the car. Max ran ahead to the refreshment stand where he greedily purchased some food. For some reason my little brother managed to eat SO much, yet never gain a pound. I wish the same thing happened to _me._

Mom had a bright smile and was walking beside me. She probably wanted to make a good first impression so she could get into the PTA and "hopefully" in the president's chair. At Max and mine's old school (back in San Francisco), our mother just had to be so _involved._ She was in the PTA and ran all the charity events.

"Mom," I began.

"Yes dear?" she asked.

"Don't embarrass me ok? First impressions are everything, you know?" I explained.

Mom rolled her eyes and shook her head, "Teenagers."

I climbed onto one of the bleachers and sat down next to a short red haired girl, staring intently at the game. Mom (in attempts not to embarrass me) subtly sat down _in front _of me. I sighed and decided to watch the game, not that any of it would be a worthwhile experience for me.

"You don't look like you're from around here," the girl next to me casually remarked.

I shook my head, "I actually just moved in from San Francisco."

"Cool," the girl next to me said, "My name's Natalie. I'm a freshman this year."

"Really? Me too," I smiled. I actually made a potential friend.

"Bayville High's ok. I mean, high school is high school right?" Natalie pointed out.

I nodded. She was right. No matter what high school you were in there was always the stereotypical cheerleader, stereotypical jock, gothic, nerd, and so on.

"So how long have you lived in Bayville?" I asked.

"Nine years," Natalie calculated. "About. My brother Duncan's the star quarterback for the Bayville Hawks, our football team. He is such a bonehead."

"I heard about him," I said quietly.

"Probably. He _is_ popular and totally ignores his little sister. I'd just love to smack him one day, you know?" Natalie pointed out.

"I know exactly how you feel. I have a little brother. He's the brattiest, most annoying, pest…" I trailed on when I heard Mom cough rather loudly below me.

I laughed sheepishly. "The point is that brothers maybe annoying, but there still _family_."

Natalie laughed awkwardly. Suddenly she gasped and stood up like somebody had just shocked her. She gasped, "Somebody just grabbed my butt!"

"What?" I asked. _Weird._

"You know what, I'm gonna goget us some food," I said, raising my eyebrow.

"Ok," Natalie said, slowly sitting back down.

Standing up, I began to head out toward the refreshment stand. On my way I saw some cheerleaders looking at Max as though he was an adorable teddy bear. I rolled my eyes. No way could Max have made friends with high school cheerleaders. Not yet!

Sighing, I took out my wallet from my back pocket. I flipped it open and was shocked to discover all my money gone. I fumed right then and there. Max had better not have "borrowed" my cash.

Putting a hand to my head, I felt frustrated. Suddenly I caught sight of a roguish looking boy under the bleachers. He grabbed a wallet from a man's back pocket, took out the cash and a credit card and threw the wallet back in the corner. I was shocked and even more shocked to see loads of cash he was carrying. I crossed my arms, ready to pummel the boy for all he was worth. He was a robber! A pickpocketer! Even more, he stole from _me_!

I was about ready to charge under that bleacher when I saw three football players, a blonde and two brunettes, start walking over there. Maybe _they_ could teach that idiot not to mess with _me_, but then I began to fear that they could do something much worse than I would ever think about. Looking at the frog…unusual looking boy, I felt sympathy toward him. He didn't even look like he took showers: at all.

Groaning, I crossed my arms again. What's a girl to do? I looked back and then saw the blonde football player toss the gecko guy into a pile of mud. Ooh. That must have hurt. I didn't want to get involved, especially since I had always been taught to _avoid_ trouble. Besides, the little gecko stole my cash. I couldn't be absolutely certain, but I was sure. However, my conscious kept bothering me. I knew there could've been a better way to handle this.

I groaned for probably the fifth time and headed back to my seat, ready to explain to Natalie that my cash had "disappeared," when suddenly I saw a brunette with sunglasses walk over to the scene and wave his hands in peace. I looked around to make sure no one could see me, and ran toward the bleachers and hid behind a bleacher stand where I could get a better look at the fight. Call me a wimp, but I really didn't want to get involved in this. These were huge high school jocks, against pure and simple gymnast likeme? I don't think so.

"What do you care about this scuzzo, Summers?" the blonde jock asked.

"Not much, but I'm not crazy about three against one, either. So how 'bout we settle this peacefully?" the brunette with sunglasses explained.

Wow, this guy was bold.

"I think me and my buds are gonna squash this slimeball. So, you and your stupid sunglasses at night can just bail," the blonde jerk said and threw the gecko boy into the ground yet again.

Next thing I knew I heard the brunette yell "knock it off" and tackled the blonde into the ground. The "Summers" character had Duncan in a tight restraint. Swings were thrown and I shut my eyes, anticipating what could happen. By this point I was rooting for the brunette and his _stupid sunglasses at night_.

The gecko boy hopped up and began to run away from the scene and the two jocks (who hadn't seemed to do much) were calling after him. "He's gettin' away!"

I looked up and saw a tall redhead approach the scene. She put her hands out, calling for the brunette, "Scott? No! Scott!"

The blonde threw a punch at Scott and he went _flying_ into the support beams. What happened next you couldn't imagine.

Scott's glasses slipped from his eyes and his eyes shone a ruby red. You couldn't comprehend how fast the glow traveled, but from my eyes they seemed to take forever. My screams echoed in within the outbreak of the rest of the people.

The blonde boy went flying out, the red beams hitting right on target. My eyes widened, my heart beat faster that I could count. It was quiet only for a quarter second, but in that quarter second I could hear myself breath, my heartbeat quicken, and my mind race.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"

My breathing stopped short as my senses resumed. I looked up and saw a propane tank explode and fire engulf it. I looked back to see the brunette finally close his eyes and the redhead look out at the explosion. She seemed almost familiar with this.

Was this a dream? If it were, I wanted to wake up. Now.

"Max! Haley!" I heard my mom's voice remarkably well through the crowd of screams and horrified parents and teens.

"Mom!" I heard Max cry. I didn't look back at the boy named Scott and the redhead. I ran out as fast as I could and made my way through the crowd to my mom.

I embraced her and Max.

"C'mon kids, we…we…have to go to the car," my mom swallowed, her words hard to escape.

"Ok mom," Max sighed. I merely nodded and ran over to the car.

That day didn't feel real. It couldn't be! No red beam could ever just pop out of someone's eyes. It never happened to me before. It was impossible. Science was my best subject, and it didn't explain what had happened. Where was Einstein when I needed him the most?

One thing was for certain. I would never _ever_ forget what happened that day, as long as I live.

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**Violet:** I hope everyone liked this chapter as well. The next chapter will be about Haley's first day of school. Remember: read and review!!!


	3. The First Day of School

**Disclaimer:** I don't own X-men: Evolution.

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**Chapter 3:** First Day of School

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Two days after the football game and the weird red stuff coming out of that guy's eyes, I was meanwhile busy shopping for school. Sunday seemed to fly by and before you knew it I was in the bathroom getting ready for school. 

"Mom! Haley's taking _way _too long in the bathroom! Tell her to get out!" I heard Max scream from outside the bathroom. I sighed and opened the door.

"I'm out!" I said, rolling my eyes, and ran down the stairs to the breakfast table. It was the typical sight every time I got out of the bathroom. My dad was seated at the head of the table reading the newspaper. On the cover the headline read: EXPLOSION IN HIGH SCHOOL – STUDENTS ESCAPE SERIOUS INJURIES IN FREAK ACCIDENT.

My mom had just finished cooking her last pancake and set it down on Max's side of the table. She then went on to read her latest Reader's Digest. I sat down and couldn't take my eyes off the cover of the newspaper my dad was reading. It was amazing how well the rest of my family could cope with it. I was still getting over it. Oh yeah, probably because they hadn't seen _Scott_'s eyes blast a red laser out or whatever it was.

"Dad, can I read that after you?" I asked, grabbing the fork, which was just about ready to dive into those pancakes with syrup splattered all over it tiny form.

"Sure sweetie. Actually you can have it now. I should be going now," my dad said, taking a sip of his coffee,andhanded me the newspaper. I grabbed it and quickly turned over to the cover.

My dad stood up, grabbed his coat and briefcase, and kissed my mom goodbye. The main reason why we even moved to Bayville was because my dad had quit the law firm he was in back in San Francisco. Dad was a lawyer and helped open a law firm with his friend Carl. Carl and Dad were involved in this big case involving some mobsters and drugs. Carl, in order to win and get all that money the mobsters were willing to give them, planted evidence and such so they could win. My dad, even though he was a lawyer, had ethics and refused to work for someone like that so quit. Because of that were now in Bayville and I had just witnessed the craziest of things.

I looked at the Bayville Times and read a few lines. Star quarterback Duncan Matthews had severed a concussion and couldn't remember what had happened. His two teammates had _mysteriously _lost their memories as well even though there was no sign of a concussion. Principal Raven Darkholme will make sure to take extra precautions next game so there won't be any more freak accidents.

Extra precaution? How can you prevent a teenager to blast off lasers from his eyes? Angrily I tossed the newspaper away just as my brother came in to sit next to me.

"Hand me the newspaper, will you?" Max asked.

I sighed and gave him the newspaper, glaring at the cover. Nothing was making sense. I didn't get it! I was smart, I should be able to figure it out, but I just…couldn't. I couldn't remember the last time I was so confused like this.

"Freak accident?" my brother asked, reading the cover like I had. "That was no freak accident. Some crazy stuff happening at that school."

He looked at me. "Good Luck."

"I'm going to need it, too," I sighed.

Mom dropped off Max off to school first. I came last.

"Good-bye sweetie. Have a great first day," my mom shouted, as I exited the car. I waved at her and looked at the large building that read: Bayville High School. At least they had nice grass. I had to give them that one.

I walked sullenly up the steps inside the building and to the office where I would receive my schedule. An old red haired lady behind a desk was filing her nails when I came in. On the desk "Dorothy Miller" could be read.

"Hi, I'm new here, I'm supposed to get my schedule," I said.

"Name?" the lady said, not even have the courtesy to look up at me.

"Haley Woodrow," I answered.

Just then a loud thud came from inside the principal's office and the frog boy I had seen earlier _hopped_ away.

I stared at him as he walked out of the administration office. I then looked back at Dorothy Miller who had my schedule in her hand. I took it from her and quietly walked off. I examined it as I walked off to my designated locker. My schedule read:

French

Honors English

Honors Social Studies

Trigonometry

Gym

Biology

'Nice line up,' I thought to myself.

I walked over to my locker and saw the redhead I had seen earlier cry out "Scott! Scott!" She was talking to a short blonde haired girl. This time I was able to notice the dozens of charms she had on her fingers. Wow.

She looked over at me and I looked away, not trying to seem like a weirdo. I turned the combination on my locker and opened it with success. To my amazement, the redhead walked up to me with a happy smile.

I didn't want to be judgmental, but from the way she looked she must have had a pretty wonderful life by the smile she had. She looked perfect and probably very involved in the school. Involved as in being in every extracurricular activities, the yearbook staff…things like that.

"Hi, are you new here?" she asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, how do you know?"

She shrugged. "I haven't seen you around here and you look kind of nervous."

"I am," I smiled, "Nervous that is. It's weird coming to a new place where you don't know anyone."

"Well then, you can start by getting to know me. My name's Jean Grey," she said, offering her hand to shake.

I shook it. She began to walk away and said, "Trust me, you'll love it here."

Somehow I doubted that.

Jean Grey…

For some reason that name sounded too familiar to me. I had heard it from somewhere – someone. Oh yeah, she was the girl Taryn Fujioka was talking about. Jean Grey, the girl _was _popular. She was dating the star quarterback for the football team. She was the girl who lived in that huge mansion. Taryn had also mentioned Scott Summers, a 'hunk' as she had put it. Maybe Scott lived in that mansion too? Did that mean they were _both_ eyes-popping-out-lasers people? Then what exactly did "gifted" mean?

Taryn had said that Scott wore glasses or something and I remembered seeing him wear them when he was fighting with Duncan. Jean was not. I gasped, so engulfed within my thoughts. Maybe Jean did something else though? Scott was the eyes-popping-out-lasers guy and she was the flying one? I shook my head. I was jumping to conclusions. Silly me.

My classes seemed to fly by and already I had a huge stack of homework to do. The bell rang, indicating lunchtime and so I went to my locker to get my lunch. On my way I noticed the frog boy talking to – of all people – Scott Summers. Maybe frog boy was a weirdo too. He sure looked like it, no offense. I quickly grabbed my lunch and walked off toward the cafeteria. Yet my curiosity forced me to see what was going on between frog boy and Scott Summers.

I hid behind a wall, my paper sack lunch tightly grasped in my hand. I could've been caught by either of them, but my adventuresome side had already taken over.

The frog boy whipped out his long, slimy, green tongue, wrapped it around Scott's glasses and pulled them away. I closed my eyes, anticipating what had happened last time, but nothing happened. I looked over and saw that Scott had closed his eyes just in time.

My jaw dropped. No human being's tongue could ever be that long, slimy, and green. I was ready to faint then and there, but knew I couldn't risk it.

"Hey!" protested Scott.

"Whattha matter Thummerths?" the frog boy asked, his words hard to grasp since the glasses were still on his tongue and covered with slime. Ew. Gross!

"'Fraid to open yer eyes?" the frog boy snickered.

"Obviously, we both know what'll happen if I do. Now, give me back my shades before I go nuclear on you," Scott threatened. This was extremely uneasy for me. This stuff didn't happen in everyday ordinary life.

I gasped as Scott's eyes slowly began to glow.

"You got it!" the frog boy said and tossed the glasses up in the air. It landed on his tongue and he tossed them on Scott's face again. _Gross!_

"Well, as you can see, you and me, we got somethin' in common," the frog boy pointed out.

Scott wiped the slime away from his glasses. I thought I was about to vomit. He spoke, "Yeah. Now we're _both_ slimy."

"Nope," the frog boy said and flipped over Scott. Wow. I was impressed. "I mean, we ain't like other people."

Ok…Now what was he getting at? Other people like me? Normal people? He and Scott weren't normal. Well duh.

"And your point is?" Scott asked, sounding a little ticked off. Who could blame him? My stomach was growling for food and I bet his was too. Did he even have a stomach? Maybe eyes-popping-out-lasers people didn't get hungry?

"I just wanna talk," the frog boy said and jumped sideway on the locker. Creepy. "and we'll get to know each other better? You know?"

He laughed as he stuffed his face inside Scott's lunch bag. "Maybe do lunch."

"I'll think about it," Scott said, walking away.

"Sure, you think about it, Summers. I got other stuff to do," the frog boy said. He jumped off the lockers and back flipped out the open window near the lockers. I watched as Scott was completely out of sight and ran toward the open window. The frog boy was jumping away from the school on the grass.

Whoa: crazy stuff.

I walked back to the cafeteria and took a seat in an empty table. My mind was so busy thinking that I didn't have time to notice I was a complete loner there. That was probably a good thing because if I _had_ noticed I would've acted very insecure at that moment.

My thoughts went back to what 'frog boy' had said. _"We ain't like other people." _Ain't? Who talked like that? I shook my head. That wasn't important. What _was_ important was what he meant by that. Scott knew, he just didn't lead on that much. It wasn't like I could just go up to him and ask "are you different?" Or maybe I could? No, I couldn't. He'd think I was a weirdo or something.

"Haley! Over here!"I heard a voice call. I looked over and saw Natalie, the girl from the football game, and a black haired Chinese girl next to her whose hair was in two tight pigtails.

"Come sit over here," Natalie said, pointing to the seat next to the Chinese girl.

I walked over and sat down. "Angie, this is Haley. Haley, meet Angie."

"Hi," I said.

"Hi," Angie smiled.

"Haley and I met at the football game on Saturday. She moved here from California," Natalie explained.

"Cool," Angie smiled. "I hear it has a lot of great beaches."

I smiled and that's when we all went into some conversations. But my mind kept thinking back to the incident with frog boy and Scott. I had to find out what he meant. But did I really want to know? Maybe me not knowing the truth was best for everyone, but I couldn't help but be the tadest bit curious. I needed to find out what was going on and that was that.

**Violet: **R/R please!


	4. Fantasy or Reality

**Disclaimer: **I don't own X-men: Evolution

**Reviewers:** Thank you to everyone who reviewed. I really appreciate it you guys, so again _thank you_!!!

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**Chapter 4: **Fantasy or Reality

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I sat in my Trigonometry class, trying hard to pay attention to the teacher. It was amazing how _boring_ he was. As he droned on and on, my eyes refused to leave the surface of the clock that ticked ever so slowly. Time seemed to be slower than usual. Time in the morning was too fast and time at school was too slow.

Suddenly the sound of the bell could be heard and the bustling of students out from their classes.

"Remember kids the chapter 1 test is Friday!" the teacher cried, trying to be heard as the students quickly shuffled out of his classroom.

I quickly gathered my things and exited the classroom. I could literally hear my stomach growl.

"Haley!" a voice called. I looked up to see Natalie running up to catch me. I was surprised to see her in my Biology class the day after I met her at school and I was even more surprised to see Angie in both my Honors classes.

"Hey," I smiled. I was surprised that already a week had passed by. My dad's job here in Bayville was going well so we would be staying here for a while. Luckily for my sanity I hadn't seen any weird things going on lately. That Xavier Institute for the Gifted had acquired new students though. First it was Kurt Wagner who I met a day after my first day at Bayville and then the newest attendee there was Kitty Pryde. She was in my Honors classes and Gym class.

I didn't really talk to Kitty Pryde that much despite the fact she sat next to me in Honors. I was surprised someone like her could be so smart. She acted so girly-girlish and said the word 'like' incessantly. Some might say she acted like an airhead but if you got to know her there was much more to that story. One thing that I noted was that she'd try and avoid being around Kurt Wagner as much as she could. I couldn't help but wonder why? Maybe she liked him or something and was too embarrassed to talk to him.

Natalie and I made our way to the cafeteria and sat down at our designated table. Angie was already sitting there reading a _book_.

"Angie, we're not in class. It's lunch! Put the book down," Natalie said, putting her hands on her hips.

I giggled and said down next to Angie. I looked at the book and the cover read: "The Mysteries of Human Evolution."

"I can see why a bookworm like you would read," I began, "but why are you reading 'The Mysteries of Human Evolution'?"

"It's for school. I'm having a test next Wednesday," Angie replied, finally putting the book down.

"Test?" I asked. It had only been my first week and I was swamped with homework, tests, and two projects due in Honors Social Studies and Biology.

"Did you know that in the late 1800's a scientist thought that there could actually be new species of humans running around? He thought that part of the human race could've actually evolved due to their DNA mutating. Of course, the guy who thought of that died with people thinking he was insane. He couldn't back up his theory with any factual information, just a hypothesis," Angie informed us. She began pulling on one of her pigtails in excitement.

Natalie rolled her eyes, "Wow, that is _so_ interesting."

"I know!" Angie cried. I shook my head.

"Don't you know sarcasm when you hear it?" Natalie asked.

"Oh, _shut up_. Unlike _you_ I _use_ my brain," Angie retorted.

"Hey!" Natalie yelled.

Since I had known Natalie and Angie, things between them had always been like this. They were best of friends, yet fought constantly.

I laughed silently and took a bite out of my pizza. I looked up at the clock, but found that it wasn't working. I sighed. _I need to buy a watch_.

Natalie gasped, "Don't look now but here comes Lance Alvers AKA Maladjusted Teen."

"That's not nice," Angie commented.

"_He's_ not nice," Natalie replied.

Us three girls looked up and saw him walk over to the lone table to the corner that occupied frog boy. Surprisingly I still had not yet acquired his name and had completely forgotten to ask someone what his name was. This was probably because nothing weird had gone on lately.

Was it normal for a normal person like me to act so casually after what had happened in the last week I'd been here? Everything was normal all of a sudden, at least in my life. What surprised me even more was that Scott could easily get away with it you know? Should I confront him? I remembered I was contemplating this in my journal the other day and thinking that if Max ever snuck into my room and began reading it, he'd think I was crazy or something.

"Hey, do any of you guys know frog boy over there?" I asked.

Angie shrugged but Natalie responded with a nod. "Oh yeah, his name's Todd Tolensky but some people like to call him _Toad_."

"I can see why," I mumbled.

Angie squealed just then and I knew that she was going to give us some information again. "My dad, my older sister, and I were driving and we saw this really old, rundown house and outside it said: The Brotherhood Boarding House. I remember seeing the house before but nobody lived there, until _now_ that is. I asked around town and I found out its like this place for delinquents and these two go there!"

Wow. Angie was a fast-paced talker. I shook my head and thought back to toad's slimy, green tongue. That tongue made me feel like vomiting just thinking about it. That Kurt Wagner, Kitty Pryde, and this Lance Alvers were all different too perhaps. But maybe they weren't and I was just jumping to conclusions again. Now I didn't have just the Xavier place to worry about but this Brotherhood place too. Things would've been so much easier if I could reverse time so that I never _went_ to that football game. But then again I would never have met Natalie Matthews or known that Angie Vu's number one pet peeve were telemarketers and dentists. Or that Natalie totally hated goldfish because they looked like they were making fun of people but for some reason she liked clownfish though.

After school I had to stay in order to meet with my Biology teacher. I had to finish up a project I had been doing. It took about half of an hour and I quickly raced to the door since I didn't plan on staying too long. I swung the door open with a strong force and surprisingly found Kitty right there, but in front of the door.

"Oh my gosh, are you ok?" I asked.

"Oh yeah I'm fine," Kitty said, beaming straight at me.

"How did you get here without being hit by that door?" I asked.

"Uhh," Kitty stammered.

I raised my eyebrow questioningly, waiting for a response.

"Hey, so, um, like wanna come over to my place. We can do or homework together since Mr. Raphael gave us like _so_ much," Kitty suggested, forgetting to respond to my question. She smiled uneasily but I something inside me kicked in and I instantly answered her, "Sure."

"Great, my friend Scott will like give us a ride to where I live," Kitty explained.

After calling my parents up on my cell phone, I met up with Kitty and we walked out to where Scott had parked his car.

This was so weird. I was going to actually talk to this guy now. Maybe this was all in my head? I mean, how could I base science on such _phenomenon_? Was this just fantasy or was I really living in this illogical type of reality? I could imagine.

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**Violet Angel:** Hope everyone likes this chapter. I would have gone ahead to the part where Haley actually goes to the institute, but I didn't want to make it too long. Keep reading and keep reviewing! 


	5. Inside the Institute

**Reviewers: **Thank you all for your reviews on my story! Hopefully I'll be able to finish it if I get enough motivation. By the way, I actually LOVe long reviews.

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**Chapter 5:** Inside the Institute

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Sitting in Scott's car like that felt uneasy. Kitty introduced Scott to me and vise versa. I didn't really need an introduction. I mean, how hard is it to forget a guy who pops red beams out of his eyes?

Scott, I learned while sitting in his red, white striped sports car, was the strong silent type of guy. He seemed so serious and stern; it would've been hard to start a conversation with him unless he started it for you. Well, maybe he had a reason for having such a rough personality like this. I would too knowing very well if I opened my eyes, red beamy things would pop out and injure people (hopefully not killing them). I felt the strongest urge to confront him right now but knew I couldn't. How could a "typical" teen walk around with eyes that do that? Obviously he wore his sunglasses in order to keep from harming people, but that didn't mean it wasn't dangerous to be around someone like that.

I marveled the large mansion as Scott's car pulled up inside. I exited out of the car, grabbing my backpack and my history textbook.

"C'mon Haley, we can like study in my room," Kitty giggled, and led me inside.

Whoa!

Seeing the institute from the inside, was a lot different than seeing it from the outside. There must've been _a lot _of elevators to take you around such a big place.

"Oh man! I've never been in such a huge place like this before," I gaped.

"Neither have I. Trust me, I felt like the same way as you when I came here," Kitty said, shaking her head.

I nodded and followed her diligently as she led me through a maze of hallways. I suddenly let out an involuntary gasp when I heard a "bamfing" sound behind me. I looked behind me and saw some smoke being blown away by _Kurt Wagner_?

"Kurt!" Kitty whined.

"Sorry Kitty," Kurt apologized in his thick German accent.

I put my hand to my mouth, remembering the same experience of shock I had experienced just moments before. "How did you…where did you…"

I found myself at lost for words for the first time in my life. I mean, I've heard of people being "at lost for words" and even though it sounded a bit corny, I _was_.

"Um, I'm trying out of for the track team. Yeah, silly me got to go!" Kurt said agitatedly and quickly left. I noted that this was the similar interaction I had gotten with Kitty about almost hitting her with the door. Was everyone in this freakin' house trying out for the track team or something?

"This is my room," Kitty finally said, opening the door to her hollow room. By the size of her room I was sure you could fit in two beds in here in equal size.

"Nice," I said, finishing my evaluation of the room.

"The Professor is totally awesome," Kitty giggled. She then began to daze off, perhaps thinking about something important?

"Professor Xavier you mean?" I asked.

Kitty nodded.

Natalie, who I also like to call 'Miss. Gossip Queen', knew almost all the news. That's how I had found out that Kurt Wagner and Kitty Pryde presided at the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters. She had heard from Dana who heard from Greg who heard from Chelsea who heard from Terri and Sherri who eavesdropped on Erin that Kurt moved in from Germany to live at the Xavier Mansion and Kitty moved in from Illinois for the same purpose. She didn't know much about Professor Xavier, besides that he majored in genetics and his middle name was Francis.

"Um, I have to go to the bathroom," I lied, almost abruptly.

"Oh, um, the bathroom is like down the hall to your left," Kitty explained.

I thanked her and quickly walked off. I would go to the bathroom but then would get 'lost' on my way back to Kitty's room.

To solve the mystery of whether or not I was insane, I had to learn more about this place. I just knew they were hiding something and I would be the first to figure out what.

Just like Kitty had said, I found my way into the bathroom. I washed my hands and began examining the rather large bathroom. I was silly in thinking I would find something in a _bathroom_ and was on my way out the door when I was shocked to see something blue on the floor. I kneeled down and picked up the blue … whatever it was. It was soft and _fuzzy_?

Kitty never did say anything about them keeping pets and I didn't know any animal with this kind of soft, fuzzy fur. Fur?

That's it! I was literally loosing it. It was just **fur**. There was no need for me to become so critical about blue fur. Maybe it was from a coat or something. But from judging the things I had seen ever since the football game, it could've been anything. Maybe they kept a large blue, monster beast in here as a pet. Maybe this _pet_ also blasted out red beamy things like Scott.

Breathe Haley! C'mon, its just fur. Your going crazy thinking there's people who blast red beamy things from their eyes. I bet all you saw that football game was mere magic tricks played by Scott. And Todd? He was probably born deformed or something. Nobody else thought anything more of him than what he already was and you shouldn't either.

Calming myself down I laughed at how crazy I was being. If the people in this house knew too, at what I was imagining, they'd probably laugh too.

BAMF!

I gasped. I heard it again. That same sound I heard when Kitty and I were walking to her room.

My hand slowly gripped onto the bathroom knob and gently opened the door, leaving a small crack so I could see what was going on.

Nothing. See Haley. All in your…

My eyes opened in pure shock.

Kurt suddenly appeared in a mist of smoke, with his tail gripped tightly around a hairbrush. Tail!? A Blue Tail!? I would've screamed right then in there but I unfortunately had lost my voice right then and there too.

I looked down at the piece of blue fur, still in my paled hands. Had it come from Kurt or did everyone in this house have a tail? I looked out again through the creak of the door.

"KURT!" I heard a feminine voice yell.

Kurt gasped and disappeared leaving a cloud of smoke behind.

Jean Grey came running and examined the smoke left by Kurt. She was not in the least surprised as I was. Of course, I didn't expect her to be surprised. Kurt then later appeared on the railing behind Jean, with the smoke around him again there and the "bamfing" sound.

The redhead turned around and suddenly the hairbrush, as if had an entity of its own, began to pull toward Jean. It seemed almost drawn to the redhead. Jean put her hand forward, like she was in fact commanding the hairbrush to move toward her.

Kurt tried in vain to keep his hold on the hairbrush. I admit it was weird it see this. It was like tug-of-war, except without the rope and Jean wasn't pulling on anything. I mean, she was pulling, I think, but it was like she could control it … using her mind!

I remembered hearing of this once. It was called: tele … tele … telekinesis!

As I watched with sheer amazement, Kurt finally released his hold on the hairbrush and Jean smiled in triumph. The hairbrush was just floating there, in air! Kurt disappeared again, leaving a cloud of smoke and the sound "bamf." Jean grabbed the hairbrush with her hand and began walking away.

Making sure Jean had left, I walked out of the bathroom and back in Kitty's room, who was already doing her homework.

"I think I should leave Kitty," I told her, as I began picking up my stuff. I was surprised with myself of how calm I could be. I should've been screaming at her right now, demanding an explanation. "I remembered something I have to do at my house."

"Oh, ok then. I'll like ask Scott to give you a ride home," Kitty suggested.

I shook my head in refusal. "No, no, that's ok. I'd actually prefer walking."

"Are you sure?" Kitty asked, apprehensively.

"Yeah, I'm fine! It's such a nice day to walk. I'll see you on Monday," I said, waving goodbye.

It wasn't until I was safely out of the institute gate I let out a sigh of relief. I felt such tension in there, like I could scream any second.

Now, seeing what I had seen, I was absolutely _convinced_ that I was _no_ lunatic. There was something up. Those were no magic tricks. I mean, it wasn't like it was the "Xavier's Institute of Gifted Magicians."

_Gifted._

It was like a secret now: to them _and_ to me.

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**Violet:**Remember to R/R. I have a pretty good idea of what Haley's powers are going to be, but I'm open to suggestions too. Keep on reviewing! 


	6. Food For Your Thoughts

**Reviewers: **Thanks to everyone who reviewed. A lot of you keep asking about Haley's powers, but don't worry; I'll get around to that later. Remember: patience is a virtue.

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**Chapter 6: **Food For Your Thoughts

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Since going to the institute, I had begun thinking about how other people would deal with something so out of the ordinary, _if_ they knew about it. I couldn't tell anyone about the Xavier Institute or about the Brotherhood. I hadn't even told my parents andI look them so much!Besides the fact they'd think I was crazy, I didn't feel like revealing these people's secret since they had gone to such lengths to keep it a secret anyway.

That day though, I wasn't in the adventurous mood. I was in fact in a bad mood. I was exhausted from all the homework I had down the previous night. That's what you get for procrastinating so much, Haley Woodrow.

The bell had rung and I was walking to my first period class when I was surprised to see a VERY large boy walk out of the office. I literally stopped walking and looked up – high up – at the large boy. He was in right size and proportion to eat me.

He looked confused at his schedule and I knew he would be in search of help. I gulped, and tried hard to look away from him when he called out to me, "Uh, hey! Hey you!"

I sighed, thinking he was calling for me. I was in a really bad mood today and just wanted to get to my class. Yet, being the Woodrow that I was, I stopped and looked generously helpful at him.

Us Woodrows come from a very long line of, shall we saw, generous helpers. I'd say, in my family, I'd be the black sheep. My family said I had a very 'mellow' and 'bored' attitude. I didn't tend to show my feelings right on my sleeve, contrary to the rest of my family. The only thing that connected me to that family was my green eyes and straight hair. I almost considered dyeing my hair from blonde because of all the stereotypes against it, but my mom hates when people change their natural hair color. She prefers "natural beauty," not that I was beautiful. I'd like to think I wasn't ugly. Although compared to the other girls at this school, I wasn't exactly gorgeous.

Anyway...

Instead of looking at me though, like I thought he would have, he looked at Duncan Matthews AKA Mr. Popularity. Duncan pretty much ignored him and kept walking ahead when suddenly the large boy picked up the jock by his jacket and dragged him back to face him.

Duncan looked perplexed, much like me.

Holding up the jock by the collar, the large boy shoved his schedule in Duncan's face.

"Where am I supposed to be?" the large boy asked.

"I don't know. How 'bout a sideshow?" Duncan answered back, grinning humorously (even though it wasn't really funny). He laughed, but I knew immediately it had been the wrong move.

"Don't you … make fun … of _me_!" the large boy yelled like a monster at the zoo almost.

The large boy's face turned boiling hot red and he tossed Duncan across the floor with little effort. The jock immediately landed on my feet.

Looking like an utter lunatic, the large boy ripped out a section of the lockers and held them up threateningly at Duncan and I. My knees gave way and I crashed to the floor. I'm sure he hadn't even realized I was there because the blood circulation to his brain must've stopped seeing as how he was so red. He looked crazy and ready to kill us. My heart was beating faster against my chest each second the locker had been held up on top of us. He looked ready to crash those lockers on top of us.

The next thing I did was close my eyes and scream. I screamed louder than I ever had. That scream, had pretty much saved both Duncan's life and mine. When I opened my eyes, the large boy had settled the lockers down so he could close his ears at the unpleasant sound.

My breathing quickened, but slowly settled back down. I took a deep breath and sighed.

I looked over by my side to see Duncan whimpering and clutching onto my arm. He looked absolutely pitiful.

I was very impressed with myself. I mean, it's not like I did a series of karate moves and totally clobbered the giant teen. Yet, no matter how I did it, I saved another person's life. I think that should be under consideration. Am I right?

By the time the large boy opened his eyes to realize the screaming had stopped, Jean Grey walked out of a nearby classroom.

"Uh, hi. You must be new here," the redhead smiled warmly. I was surprised that the whole school hadn't gathered around to see this happen. I _had_ screamed pretty loud, and if I hadn't, Jean sure had sensitive ears.

Just as the redhead had said that, I noted to myself I could never have the guts to talk to a crazy guy who had almost killed two teens.

"Huh?" the large boy asked.

"Uh, I'm Jean Grey," Jean responded, trying to calm the hot-tempered boy.

Fred smiled sheepishly, the color draining from his face, "Heh. Oh. Yeah, I-I am! New, I mean."

"I figured. Welcome to Bayville. So, uh, what do your friends call you?" Jean asked him, waving Duncan and me off. It was our cue to leave. Duncan was quicker to get away than me. I watched with amazement how easily Jean could handle this type of situation. Then again, she did have that telekinesis thing.

I walked quickly off, after grabbing my scattered backpack. Even though my pace was fast, I was still able to catch his name.

The large boy responded shyly to Jean's question with, "Never had any friends, but my name is Fred. Fred Dukes."

Later that day on my way to the cafeteria I met up with Rogue. Just "Rogue". She had transferred here just last week (after Kitty stopped avoiding Kurt). She was in Natalie and mine's Biology class. Us three had been assigned to do this stupid Biology project and had agreed to meet up after school at my house. Natalie's brother Duncan was having a party that day and Rogue had subsequently said we couldn't go to her house either. She lived at the Brotherhood Boarding House and Natalie and I immediately thought it was probably a good idea considering what poor state it was in. Not to mention we shouldn't go there considering who lived there (Todd and Lance).

"Hi Rogue," I said. I didn't bother to think about what she could "do" since she lived in the Brotherhood House. I had made up my mind that today I would pretend I was like everyone else and didn't know about those red beamy things or telekinesis or that "bamfing." Besides, I had become accustom to keeping this secret for the past week now.

"Hey Haley," Rogue said in her pretty Southern accent.

"What's up?" I asked, going over to my locker. I turned the combination quickly and opened the locker with success.

"I don't think I'll be able to meet up with you and Natalie after school," Rogue explained.

"Why?" I asked, grabbing my lunch and slamming the locker door shut.

"I have this play I have to do with Scott. We're rehearsing after school," Rogue said, walking off to the cafeteria. I followed by her side.

"You and Scott Summers?" I asked. Rogue may be a Gothic and Scott may be semi-popular, but they were somewhat alike. They were both so mysterious.

"Yeah," Rogue simply said, depressed. It seemed like she was thinking back onto something.

"So what play are you doing?" I asked.

"Shakespeare's Henry The Fifth," Rogue answered.

"Best of Luck," I said, walking off toward my table.

"I'll probably need it," Rogue mumbled under her breath. She walked off to sit with Todd and Lance.

I sat down across from Natalie as Angie came walking towards the table with a plate of food.

"Is that _humongous_ guy the one that almost killed you and Duncan this morning?" Angie asked. I had told her all about it in Honors.

I nodded. I had also told Natalie during passing period what had happened. She was shocked that her brother almost got killed, but at the same time she felt like he deserved a good scare.

We all looked over at the lunch line where Fred was standing. He shoved a boy out of the way, eager to get his food. The lunch lady paled at the sight of his giant form. I bet that was the moment when she decided she shouldn't have dropped out of high school to become a lunch lady there.

"Fill 'er up!" Fred grinned, loud enough for our table to hear.

The lunch lady piled food after food onto Fred's tray (very disgusting food too). Let's just say the food at Bayville isn't exactly first class.

Soon Fred's tray had overflowed and he was looking at a mountain of food. The lunch lady just stared as Fred waved goodbye. Seeing this I considered that the lunch lady might not come to work tomorrow.

"I heard that Fred Dukes over there just moved in the Brotherhood House," Natalie pointed out.

The Brotherhood Boarding House?

"Anyway," Angie began, trying to change the subject, "the most horrible thing happened to me in economics today. I got an A- on a chapter test!"

"Oh no! The fate of the world is doomed now that Perfect Angie got her first A-. Whatever shall we do?" Natalie said, saracastically and dramatically.

"Ha, ha. Very funny," Angie retorted.

I smiled to myself about how paranoid Angie was acting but soon my attention was drawn back to Fred. Kurt Wagner was sitting at a table with all his housemates and laughing about something with Scott. Fred scowled at them, perhaps thinking they were laughing at him? After all, back when I was almost _killed_, Fred had become so crazy mainly because Duncan made fun of him. I noted that I should probably not ridicule Fred during the present or the future. Bad idea.

Later, I returned back to the conversation between Natalie and Angie.

"Ugh! This cafeteria food is so disgusting," Natalie commented, picking at a brown gooey food with a fork. "Remind me to _bring_ my lunch next time. I mean, what is this stuff?"

Natalie pointed at the brown gooey stuff looking, well, pretty much grossed out.

"Well, there's one person in this room who actually _likes_ cafeteria food," Angie pointed out. She motioned toward Fred who had just begun sitting down at a lone table readyto eat. He looked pretty angry.

Just as he had sat down, his weight pushed the chair down so that now he was sitting on the floor. Then the weight of the _tray_ bean to tip the table over and food literally went flying across the room. A loud _SPLAT_ sound could be heard and soon Duncan Matthews was standing up with food all over his face and body, including his jersey.

The blonde jock stood up, glaring at Fred who was sitting down on the ground with food covering him as well.

"Bad move, blob boy," Duncan said angrily, wiping the same brown gooey stuff Natalie had commented on off his jacket.

Fred looked helpless on the floor and tried to lift his body weight up when suddenly he slipped on some orange looking jello thing.

The whole cafeteria burst out laughing, including myself for that matter (but only for a few seconds). I made an: 'ouch it must hurt' face, and looked at Fred's temperature heighten. His face was boiling red again, but probably redder than before since there was a lot more people than just one laughing at him.

"_DON"T LAUGH AT ME!!!_" the loud, monstrous yell came from Fred.

He grabbed handfuls of food and chucked them at Duncan. They hit right on target, causing Duncan to fall down from the weight. Soon, Natalie burst out laughing harder than before. After all, he was her older brother and they did not get along so perfect. Trust me, I know from experience how a brother-sister relationship can be.

Anyway, by this time everyone was getting riled up and the two kids by Duncan's side grabbed a chunk of their own food and flung it at Fred. Fred screamed more dangerously than before and threw some food at Duncan, only to miss and hit a skinny looking boy.

The skinny looking boy smiled and shouted, "_Food Fight!!_"

No!!!!

By this time everyone was throwing food at each other. Food swung through the air and hit various people. I don't believe a single person was spared from food getting splattered on them. Angie was the first at our table. Ketchup swerved through the air and hit Angie's light blue shirt. Next, a green jello substance attacked my hair.

I made a face, "Ugh! Whoever threw that, I am SO getting them back."

Grabbing a handful of mashed potatoes from Natalie's tray, I threw it across the room, only to hit Kitty right in the head. Luckily she didn't see me, but what was more surprising was that she totally disappeared through the ground! And nobody had noticed either, well, except for me. I considered whether that was weird or not (not the part about Kitty disappearing through the floor – that is without exception weird). Maybe it was just a coincidence that _I_ was the only one who kept seeing these things and nobody else. They (Kitty, Scott, etc.) believed that they had kept it a secret to everyone – everyone but me.

Later the same brown substance Natalie had been "grossed out" by hit her jeans.

"Great! And I just bought these!" Natalie sighed.

By this time everyone rushed out of the cafeteria. Angie, Natalie, and I went straight to the bathroom to clean out the food that had unfortunately smothered us. I said goodbye to Angie and Natalie after that, but went to the cafeteria to see the aftermath of what happened. I wasn't too surprised to see Fred there, but I was surprised to see Jean there also with him, sitting beside him. I bet she was calming him down or something like before.

I don't like to say I'm a regular eavesdropper, but lately I had been doing that a lot lately. Besides, who could blame me? You would do it too if you were in my place.

Hearing some voices, I turned my head to see Rogue talking to Scott. Principal Darkholme approached them and they soon parted ways.

What's to say about Principal Darkholme? She's not the most agreeable of people. I haven't much talked to her, but from what I've seen, she's very strict. She's strict and expects discipline but has a soft spot for the people who live in the Brotherhood House for some reason. Maybe she was a maladjusted teen when she was young and is now seeking to change the Brotherhood people for the better like someone had changed her? I had quite the imagination, no?

I looked back to Jean and Fred and carefully listened to their conversation.

Fred wiped his teary eyes and spoke, "Uh, it's just when they laugh at me, I kind of explode inside, you know?"

The large boy looked down sadly at the ground as Jean put a comforting arm around his shoulder.

"I understand, Fred, but you got to learn to control yourself. You can get training," Jean explained.

"Yeah, right. Where?" Fred asked, sounding a little hopeful as well as a little suspicious.

Yeah. Where?

"I learned to control ... my gifts at the Institute where I live," Jean remarked.

Gifts!? So Jean wasn't talking about the kind of gifts where your really "intelligent" was she? I rolled my eyes. The one day I decide to ignore everything, the whole mystery about what really goes on at that institute "unfolds", which is really weird considering that this is the only day I've actually ignored it.

"Gifts? You mean you have powers too?" Fred asked.

Powers! So what she means when she says "gifts" is actually "powers". Duh! Why didn't I get this before? Jean's telekinesis thing, Scott's red beamy things from his eyes, and Kitty melting into the ground were all powers. Ugh! How could I be so stupid! It was so obvious that it was staring at me in the face.

I sighed. I felt like I was in a science fiction novel or movie or something. Why me?

Jean nodded referring to Fred's question, "Uh-huh. Watch."

The redhead stood up and looked around the room for something in particular. She spotted an overturned chair and smiled. She put her hand forth and the chair delicately lifted up, that is until it crashed into the wall.

"_Wow_! You could really pound people with that!" Fred commented.

Jean immediately shook her head, "No, Fred. That's what we learn _not_ to do. That's what the Xavier Institute is all about; control. I'd love to take you there sometime. I _know_ the Professor would like to meet you."

Yes! The whole mystery is solved now.

Jean walked toward Fred and put a hand on his shoulder, "Just let me know when you're ready."

"I'll think about it," Fred said, skeptically.

"Great. Well, I got to run. I'll catch you later, Fred," Jean waved and walked toward the door I was spying through.

Eek!

I quickly departed through the hall and to my next class, barely missing being spotted by Scott Summers.

After school that day, I had informed Natalie that Rogue had told me she couldn't do the Biology project with us since she had to do a play with Scott.

"What!" Natalie shrieked. "If I don't get at least a C in Biology, my parents are going to kill me!"

"Relax, we can do the project without her," I explained.

"No way!" Natalie countered. She grabbed my arm and pulled me along with her, "Rogue is _not_ backing down on this for some … boy."

"Fine, but _you_ do all the persuading," I sighed as she released her grip on my arm.

We finally found Rogue by herself sitting on a bench outside the school. Just as we had approached her, we saw Scott Summers not far behind.

Scott jingled his keys around his finger and spoke, "You ready Rogue?"

"Rogue! I am forbidding you from going with this guy. You promised you'd do the project with us," Natalie explained.

"What? I didn't promise anything," Rogue said in her Southern accent.

"Whatever! Either way, you're not backing out now," Natalie said in an ordering fashion.

"Don't order me around," Rogue said, crossing her arms.

Scott and I looked on at Natalie and Rogue from the sidelines.

Suddenly Scott spoke up, "Rogue, you go ahead with them. We can do the play another time."

"Good," Natalie said spitefully. Wow, Natalie was a very good negotiator or debater or whatever you want to call her.

I gulped, "C'mon Rogue, my mom's giving us a ride."

Rogue sighed and reluctantly followed Natalie and I. Natalie was in the front with her head held high while I was behind her watching Scott walk away to his car. Rogue looked angrily ahead at nothing in particular.

Usually I would think mountains of stuff on this day – the day when I finally solved the mystery of The Xavier Institute of "Gifted" Youngsters. Right now however, all I can say is WOW!

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**Violet Angel:** RR everyone! I will greatly appreciate it. R/R!!! 


	7. Arrested Development

**Reviewers: **Thank you all for your great reviews! You don't know how much I really appreciate them.

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**Chapter 7: **Arrested Development

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WOW! So this is utter, absolute, amazement, huh? Never in my life has anything this exciting ever happened! I mean, one minute I'm this normal teenager then all of a sudden I know the biggest secrets of secrets!

I knew I had to stop thinking about the whole humans possessing powers thing and whatnot, especially since my cousin Kevin's basketball game was being played, but if people only knew what I was going through.

Taking in a deep breath, I closed my eyes and reverted my attention to the basketball game being played at hand. I could honestly say this was the only sport I actually understood how to play.

The crowd exploded with cheers as the team Kevin was playing against scored a point. His team, P.S. 104, wasn't looking too badly though. I booed quietly and turned to look at my brother Max who was a real sports fanatic. Mom and Dad were in the seats behind us, surveying the game. I think mom tried to enjoy it, but was failing miserably. Dad was more of a football guy, but liked it nonetheless.

"Where's Kevin?" Max asked, looking out at the crowd of basketball players. The game was in intermission and I spotted Kevin getting a drink of water from a bottle.

"There he is!" I pointed out.

Soon the game started up again and the score was 81-82, in favor of the "other" team. It was the fourth quarter with 34 seconds left. Everyone's excitement rose and they all stood up with such anticipating thoughts.

An African-American, white haired woman was standing next to me and by her side was a couple, obviously rooting for their son. I marveled the woman's white hair for a minute and looked back at the game.

The star of the game, which was unfortunately NOT my cousin, was dribbling the ball and dodged from the offensive team. A silver haired head approached him and received the ball. He shot into the air but proceeded to miss. The crowd gave an "ooh" as a member of the other team stole the ball.

"Get 'im! Steal the ball!" I heard the woman beside the white-haired woman say.

"Set up your zone! Don't let 'em shoot!" her husband proceeded to instruct. I could tell these were one really dedicated parents and lovers of basketball. I bet their son dreamt of being in the NBA.

"Is it always this exciting?" the white-haired woman next to me asked. She had a silky, earthly tone of voice. It was actually quite soothing.

"No, this one's a real nailbiter," the husband answered.

I looked at the clock and now only 11 seconds remained with the other team still in possession with the ball.

"You can do it, Evan! Shoot! Shoot!" the lady next to me shouted, shaking her fist. Evan must've been the one with the ball (and the star of the game) because just then he jumped for the basket and shot the ball. The buzzer sounded of off just as the orange and black ball dropped through the net. "Evan" then fell down and slammed into a Kevin.

I was too excited to see what happened next because just then I began to jump up and down in bliss. Max waved his fist in triumph and I could hear my mom from behind let out a soft sigh.

Turning my head toward the lady with white hair, I was puzzled to see the look of shock on her face. It wasn't like the shock of actually winning, but like the shock of seeing something _shocking_.

In my curiosity, I looked over to the court to see "Evan" on the ground with brown spikes on his arms. Then they slowly absorbed into his skin.

Now this was just too much!! The people at that institute and the Brotherhood weren't the only ones with powers! There were more?

In a gymnasium full of people, this lady and I were still the only ones who had seen something like this. This, plus all the other things I had seen, was beginning to be a bother. This guy had powers too? Maybe my math teacher did too, and my mom, and that squirrel living in our tree. I felt like I was going to explode keeping this big secret to myself. I really wanted to tell my parents but who knows how'd they take it.

Besides, since the day I heard Jean explain everything to Fred, I was certain there was more to find out. The question was whether I should pursue this. Maybe I should just leave everything and try to avoid it for the sake of these people and my own sanity.

Looking over to my right, I saw Max with a shocked look on his face. He rubbed his eyes, shook his head, and looked decidedly to ignore this. Easy for him, I, on the contrary, knew I wasn't just "seeing things". This was real.

I looked down back onto the court to see "Evan" smiling and waving his arms in victory.

"Yeah! Woohoo!" I called weakly.

Kevin and a bunch of other teammates lifted Evan (who had very ugly blonde hair by the way). They later proceeded to go into the boy's locker room.

By this time people were filing out of the large gymnasium belonging to the P.S. 104 High School. My parents and I stayed and later met up with my aunt and uncle (who was brother to my dad). They were nice people, but I believed they were too pressuring of Kevin in basketball. They really wanted him to get a scholarship.

The adults went on to some conversation while Max and I strolled lazily on the court. There I also saw the woman with white hair and the couple. A few boy's came out of the locker room but Kevin was still in there.

"Evan did a really great job Vi," I heard my aunt call out.

"Thanks. He's really been practicing," I heard the response.

I look behind me to see the white haired woman and the couple on the court. I assumed Vi was the wife in the couple.

"Oh, this is my sister Ororo. She visiting here from Bayville," Vi explained, motioning to the white haired woman by her side.

Bayville! What a coincidence.

"What a coincidence! My husband's brother and his family came here to visit from Bayville as well," my aunt laughed.

"You know what they say," Vi laughed in return, "What a small world."

What small world it _is_.

Later Max came up to me with a pondering look on his face. He spoke, "Have you ever seen somebody with spikes on their arm?"

"Sure. It probably means you haven't had enough sleep," I lied.

This secret, or whatever it was, was becoming part of me life now. It was one of those things that I lived with and kept. Nobody even asked me to keep this a secret but I _was_ anyway. It wasn't like the first time I lied to my little brother, but if there were anyone in the world, Max would be the first person I'd tell all this too.

"Oh," Max said thoughtfully, "You're probably right."

I had learned a few days ago that Max was staying up late and watching late night shows. I was at first mad, but then impressed by his capability of sneaking around without being caught by mom or dad. Of course, that wouldn't stop me from blackmailing him about this when the time came.

Finally Kevin came out of the boy's locker room with a black haired boy by his side. They said their good-byes and walked in different direction.

"That was quite a game you had there, son," my uncle complimented.

"It was all Evan. I made a few shots but…" Kevin began.

"Those few shots got you to win this game," my aunt contradicted.

Kevin shrugged.

"So does anybody feel like celebrating? I'll take all of you guys out for some pizza. What do you say? My treat," my dad asked.

"Dan, no. It's my son's game. I should be the one to pay," my uncle explained.

My dad shrugged approvingly, "Well, if you insist."

Mom rolled her eyes and we all began to walk off to our separate cars. I turned my head around for a moment and then looked back straight. I let out a gasp as a felt a light breeze fly past us. That was weird. I've never heard of a breeze indoors unless the window was open or something and right now, there were no windows open.

We all went to The Pizza Place for our pizza. We ate. We talked. We laughed. I didn't do much talking. I was too busy thinking. I had been doing that a lot lately. I was in deep thought. I kept replaying ever incident so far that I had seen.

First it had been Scott's beam eyes. Then it had been Todd's freakishly long tongue. Later it was Kurt's blue tail and disappearing act and Jean's telekinesis. During the food fight it had been Kitty disappearing through the floor. Now it was Evan's spikes. I wondered how it would be like to live like that.

To keep your powers a secret from the world must have been a great deal of difficulty. Not even to tell your closest friends would've been hard. I know it had already been hard on me and I didn't even have powers.

Hmmm.

What if I _did_ have powers? I wonder what they'd be. It's so weird to be thinking like this. It felt like I was in some supernatural/science-fiction novel.

If the world did know about these people's powers then how would they react? I'd like to say I've reacted in the most sensible way possible, but that's me. How would other people react? Don't these people ever wonder that as well? I'm sure they did.

"Hey, are you going to eat that last pizza?" came a voice.

I looked over to see Kevin looking eagerly at the last pizza left.

"Go ahead," I said waving him off.

He licked his lips and began munching down the pepperoni pizza. I didn't like pepperoni. I liked "just cheese" pizzas.

"Aw man, I just remembered something," Kevin said.

"What?" I asked.

"Evan and me were supposed to go down to the school tonight. We were going to catch this locker thief," Kevin explained casually.

"What? Are you out of your mind or something!? You could get arrested!" I cried.

"Relax. We wouldn't get caught, just the locker thief," Kevin shrugged.

"What locker thief?" Max asked.

"He's been rippin' us all off – Evan, Greg and me. Mostly Evan though. It's been going on for nights now. We go to school the next morning and all our money is gone," Kevin explained.

"Well you deserve it for leaving your money in a locker," I remarked.

"Whatever. I have to go call him," Kevin sighed.

Kevin did call Evan on his cell phone and after that he explained Evan wasn't going to go either, since his aunt was there and they were having a long barbeque. It wasn't long before my family and I had to leave for Bayville. I congratulated Kevin and quietly told him the consequences that would result in him breaking in the school to catch this locker thief. I don't think Kevin got the message.

The next day school went by slowly without any interruptions with anything strange. Today dad picked me up and we all went to Kevin's House. Aunt Lillian and Uncle James had invited us over for dinner.

The adults were talking to each other after dinner and Kevin, Max, and I were upstairs roaming around. Suddenly the sound of ringing could be heard and Kevin hurriedly grabbed his cell phone from his pocket.

"Hello?" he answered. "Greg can't make it? No, it's fine … yeah I'll see you at the school."

Kevin hung up the phone and threw it on his bed. He began to quietly tiptoe down the stairs.

"Where are you going?" I asked accusingly.

"He's going to the school to catch the locker thief. Weren't you paying attention?" Max answered the obvious, following me from behind.

"I know that!" I shouted, rolling my eyes.

Kevin finally reached the bottom and pulled a skateboard from inside a closet.

"Kevin, no! You're going to get arrested. It'll be on your permanent record! Or worse, what if you get seriously injured?" I shouted.

"Relax Hales. We won't get caught," Kevin said casually.

"What, now you can magically tell the future or something?" I asked.

I realized at that moment what I said could have been truth. From what I had seen this could've been the case for any person. I doubt it was the case for Kevin though. He was just stupid. He didn't have one clue how this could end up. I mean, what if this locker thief had a gun or something?

"No, but it'll be fine," Kevin said.

"Then I'm coming too," I said.

"What! No!" Kevin protested.

"I though you said everything would be 'fine'?" I asked.

"You can't come!" Kevin shouted.

"Why not?" I asked.

"Just because," Kevin explained.

After some minutes of arguing Kevin finally allowed me to come along. Luckily he had a spare skateboard and I had learned four years ago from my friend Sean in San Francisco how to ride one. He was a junior in high school now. I wondered how he was doing and quickly shook my thoughts away.

"Can I come too?" Max asked.

"No, you have to stay here and buy us some time," I explained and ran out quietly through the back door.

Kevin and I exited through the backyard. Kevin hopped on his skateboard and rolled off and I followed quickly from behind, trying to stay some feet away from him in order to see where he was going.

I felt so spontaneous. I knew we'd probably end up getting caught but I didn't care, which was weird for me. Usually I cared, deeply. Right now though, I was so caught up in the moment. Besides, I was a good girl. I would just blame everything on these two (Kevin and Evan – hey that rhymes!).

"Wait up!" I cried as Kevin sped off faster and faster.

He was way too fast and seemed to gain speed each time he rode.

"Kevin!" I cried, panting.

I tried desperately to catch up to him but found myself growing weaker and weaker by the moment. I stopped to catch my breath and before I could call out for Kevin again a breeze brushed past me. For some reason it reminded me of that breeze I had experienced at Kevin's basketball game.

Usually I would have run away from the mysterious breeze, bur right now I was running toward its direction. I ran and then skateboarded until I finally found the P.S. 104 High School.

"Kevin!" I hissed.

I heard a muffled sound and turned to see a pair of feet dangling from a dumpster. I heaved the lid of the dumpster up and found Kevin dangling from inside.

"What happened?" I asked, humor mixed in with worry.

"I don't know, it happened so fast," Kevin explained, getting a banana peel out from his hair and standing up. "One minute I'm standing here and then the next I'm being hurdled around and thrown in this dumpster. You probably think I'm crazy Haley, but there was a serious mini-tornado going here."

I looked awkwardly at Kevin for a while and then spoke, "Are you sure you just didn't get hit in the head and then you wandered aimlessly to this dumpster, bumped into it and then toppled over and then the lid just fell down?"

"The mini-tornado story sounds more realistic that that," Kevin said shaking his head.

"Oh really?" I asked.

"Yeah," Kevin began when suddenly we heard a sound in the distance.

The sound sounded like wind and then stopped for a moment.

"I'm going inside the school," I said boldly.

"Go ahead, don't expect me to come with you," Kevin said.

"Wimp," I said, sticking my tongue out at him.

I raced inside the school when suddenly Evan came skidding to a halt at my feet. Came with him was what looked like a … mini-tornado!

"What is that?" I cried.

Evan ignored my question and got up, looking me over, "Wait a minute, who are you?"

"Haley, Kevin's cousin," I answered.

We didn't have much time to chat because just then the mini-tornado sped around and sent us up tossing into the air. I ended up getting thrown onto the floor which really hurt by the way.

To my amazement the mini-tornado began to slow down to form a silver haired boy wearing a pale green outfit. He was tall and his arms were crossed.

"W-what? Who are you?" I asked in my shocked state. I was honestly surprised to see him there.

"Call me Quicksilver. I'm a mutant and you are…" the boy began when suddenly Evan returned behind him.

"_You_?" Evan asked, pointing at Quicksilver. "_You've_ got powers too?"

Quicksilver slapped his forehead and turned around to revert his attention to Evan, "Duh! _Finally_! Remember, Daniels, anything you can do, I can do better."

He then sped off toward Evan and grabbed a wallet from the African-American's hand. He opened it and grabbed some money from inside its contents and threw the wallet away.

"Mind if I take that back?" he asked.

"But, why would you wanna rip me off?" Evan asked dumbly.

"Kicks, man! For the _challenge_! Look, when you live as fast as I do, there ain't enough things to occupy my time," Quicksilver said, spinning around. "I gotta entertain myself. Heh, and you thought you could stop me. Well, _eh_!"

Quicksilver smacked Evan and continued, "Wrong again!"

"Don't bet on it," Evan angrily answered, rubbing his red cheek.

I watched from the sidelines as a long brown spike protruded from Evan's hand. It was weird to actually see that happen. It makes you wonder – how do they do that?

Unfortunately for Evan, Quicksilver sped around and pushed him over. By this time I had come to terms of what Quicksilver's powers were: super speed. Nobody could move that fast!

"Too slow! What a surprise?" Quicksilver mocked.

"Uh-oh," I silently murmured as I heard sirens from the distance.

"You know, I think you're gonna need some more time to work on those powers of yours," Quicksilver said thoughtfully as the sirens began to grow louder.

Oh no! He was going to leave. And then the police would find Evan and me in here and then they would arrest us! My prediction was proving to be correct.

"What do you mean?" Evan asked dumbly. Man! Why was this guy so slow?

"Can you say 'scapegoat'?" Quicksilver asked. He looked over at me and winked, "Sorry babe."

Like a twister, he vanished down the hall and then after a few seconds a pair of flashlights shone in our eyes, blinding my vision. Being handcuffed is not a could feeling; it makes you feel like a common criminal – something that I was not.

Jail is a horrible place. I'm literally now the good girl gone bad. It was so dirty in there and smelly. I'm sure before me their was a fat guy with tattoos named Otis in here.

Evan and Kevin were in one separate cell and I was in the other.

After we had been arrested, Kevin was trying to calm me down. I was literally screaming in his face and turning flamingo pink. He was probably hoping my lungs would soon collapse but the whole drive home I was yelling in his face and my lungs did _not_ collapse. Because of my outbursts the police officers required that we be kept in separate cells in order to keep Kevin alive.

I looked up hopefully as the sound of a sliding door could be heard. I wanted my parents here but at the same time couldn't bear their disappointment in me. I had always met up with their expectations and something big like this could easily bring their pride in me down.

Just as I looked up I saw the white haired woman Ororo, Scott Summers, Jean Grey, Evan's parents, my parents, Max, and Kevin's parents. Everyone went his or her separate ways.

"Haley! Honey! Are you alright?" Mom asked me with tears in her eyes.

"What possessed you to go break into a school like that?" I heard Kevin's mom shriek.

"Evan, what happened?" I heard Evan's mom console.

"I'm so sorry mom and dad. I knew it was wrong I just did it anyway. I just didn't want Kevin to get hurt," I explained. "So I went and thought I could stop him from doing something stupid. I know I should've told you before I did anything. Can you ever forgive me?"

"It's alright Haley. We're just so glad your ok," Mom sighed.

"I'm sorry! I'm so stupid. First of all this isn't Haley's fault. She was just trying to stop me from going," Kevin explained. I smiled softly as I heard Kevin defending me. Kevin was released from his jail cell soon since his parents had paid his bail ahead of time.

"Mom, you have no idea how much I regret this, but I didn't do anything! I promise!" I protested. "Neither did Kevin _or_ Evan."

"We believe you honey," Dad said, and he was telling the truth. I could tell.

"We're going to go pay your bail ok. C'mon Max," Mom said and she, dad, and Max left. Tears swarmed in my eyes and slowly released. They trickled down my cheek and I quickly wiped them away.

"Welcome to the downside, pal. Misuse your powers: go to jail," Scott said silently, although I could still hear him.

"It wasn't me, man," Evan protested. "Haley and Kevin didn't do anything either."

"Hey, I believe you, Evan. In fact, I _know_ you didn't do it," Jean said. How does she _know_ he didn't do it? That's weird.

"Evan, please listen to me. Let us help you," Ororo said pleadingly.

"So, we'll make you a deal. The Professor will use his influence to get you outta here and you give the Institute a shot. Whaddaya say?" Scott asked.

Oh, I see what their doing. Their forcing him to go to that institute so he can learn to control his powers.

"Like I've got a choice?" Evan snorted.

"Hey, hey, you've _always_ got a choice. We just … want to help you make it the right one," Scott explained.

"Okay. Deal," Evan said as Scott stuck hand through the bars. They shook hands. A deals a deal.

A few days later, back in Bayville, the charges against me were dropped since they couldn't find any evidence against me. I was from Bayville, which was too far away to conclude that _I_ was the locker thief.

I luckily still had my parents trust, but was grounded for two months.

Evan had transferred her not long after that conversation I had witnessed exchanged between Evan and the people from the institute. He was now playing basketball for Bayville and his first game was ironically against P.S. 104.

I supposed that Evan might not have seen me see him use his powers. Quicksilver certainly had. He had said he was mutant. Now I knew what to call these people: mutants.

My parents had forbidden me to go to the basketball game so I was stuck home. I was lying on my bed, staring at the ceiling and thinking about going to jail and everything. Natalie and Angie would have laughed to just hear that good girl Haley had gone to jail. Of course, I hadn't been charged with anything luckily.

Mutants. So I was in a world full of **mutants**. I had almost gone to juvenile hall and all I found out was a new vocabulary word: mutant? Why was my life so difficult?

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**Violet: **Thanks a bunch for reading! R/R! 


	8. Field Trip

**Reviewers:** I decided to take the whole Carol Danvers plot out of the story and go with what I originally had in mind. So I present to you: Chapter 8!

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**Chapter 8:** Field Trip

When I told Natalie and Angie about going to jail they laughed in my face. They would never believe good girl Haley would actually turn into a bad girl and go to jail. It was no use convincing them so I supposed it was a good thing. I didn't want anyone to know I had gone to jail previously in my life. Who wants people to know that anyway?

Nothing _extreme_ had happened lately. Pietro Maximoff or Quicksilver had transferred to Bayville High School, like I had thought. Evan Daniels had found some incriminating evidence against Pietro and everyone had found that _he_ had been the locker thief, even though I had known long before that. Some anonymous person had paid Pietro's way out of jail.

Two boys had cried out frantically that they had seen a blue furred demon/ghost in the boy's bathroom. It makes you wonder what goes on in there. Anyway, nobody believed the two boys and thought they were just delirious. That day Duncan Matthew's was also having a party. His sister Natalie convinced him to let Angie, Kitty, and me into the party since we were all freshman and his party was clearly with no freshman. He reluctantly agreed. A few times at the party I had seen Kurt's blue tail pop up once in a while. Scott tried desperately to cover it up even though no one noticed but me.

A wonderful thing had happened to me the following day. I had received a letter from the Bayville High School to go on a geological field trip to the mountains. The coordinator of the field trip was Mr. Rhodetsky. I was practically ecstatic to go up to the mountains and my parents of course saw this as an opportunity for me to intellectually enhance myself. Well, as long as they were letting me go…

So the following two weeks I was busy packing for the trip and the day finally came. I was waiting outside the bus with a bunch of other kids who also received the letter to go on the trip. I was help loading the people's baggage into the bus carrier with Paul's help.

I grabbed Tracey Weimer bag and threw it across, barely missing Paul head.

"Hey!" he exclaimed.

"Oops, sorry," I said, muffling up a giggle.

As students continued to pile up I kept on gathering their luggage into the bus and waited patiently as Jean Grey and Scott Summers walked toward the bus. I could only imagine what would happen with these two on board. T-R-O-U-B-L-E. Trouble!

Mr. Rhodetsky was standing in front of the large yellow school bus reading off of a brown clipboard, "Alright. Double-check your spelunking gear. Make sure your packs contain a hard hat, spiked boots, rope, compass, rations, lamps, candles, and matches. Remember, there are no sporting goods stores in the Taepo Caves. Oh, and I'd better not see _any_ game toys."

A couple of students sighed and a boy complained, "C'mon, I just got a sweet new game."

The students mulled about and tried inefficiently to assemble a line. I grabbed Jean Grey's bag from her hand and put it into the bus carrier. Her hair was put in a ponytail. As she walked with Scott I could here their conversation. Scott spoke, "Look, how can we pretend she's the enemy in battle simulations when we're tryin' to convince her to be our friend? If we can't think of her as a friend, she'll never wanna join us."

What in the world were they talking about? What were battle simulations and _whom_ exactly were they talking about? I could only guess. The people from the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters were mysterious and lived a whole separate life than the rest of the world. Whether I was putting myself in danger by going with my curiosity so much, I did not know. And I didn't care.

I was hanging around the bus as Jean and Scott were installing the snowmobiles onto the large yellow automobile. Suddenly the sound of approaching footsteps caught my attention and everyone looked toward Mr. Rhodetsky walking our way with a look of distress on his face.

"Jean! Bad news," he called to her.

Everyone gathered around to see what had happened.

"What?" she asked.

"Seems the administration won't clear your time off for the field trip. Something about too many absentee days in your file?" Mr. Rhodetsky asked, raising his eyebrow.

"Whoa, wait a second. Those were all approved," Scott countered in Jean's defense.

"If they just call Professor Xavier, he'll-" Jean began in a worried tone.

"I wish we had the time, Jean, but they've already filled your spot. I promise, we'll clear this up when I get back. Hey, I'm really sorry," Mr. Rhodetsky said sincerely.

"Yeah, well have fun," Jean said coldly, crossing her arms in depression.

"Oh man, this stinks," Scott sighed.

"Who filled her spot?" I perked up.

"New student," Mr. Rhodetsky said, pointing to a gothic girl. Rogue walked toward the bus and climbed aboard. She was wearing a rather large brown trench coat and smiled slightly at Scott.

The rest of the students outside the bus gathered around the short, stocky teacher and waited for him to speak. He called out, "Okay, junior geologists, let's pile in. We're behind schedule."

As I walked toward the entrance to the bus I could see a slight scowl on Scott's face. He was obviously very upset Jean wouldn't be participating in the field trip and probably even more upset that Rogue _was_.

Once I was seated inside the bus, I looked outside the window as the bus began to pull out. I wondered what the Taepo Caves would look like and anticipated all the snow that would be up there in those mountains. Even more, I wondered what would happen. For some reason, every time a mutant was around I always anticipated the idea that something absurd and wildly unnatural would happen. But who could blame me really? Imagine if you were in _my_ position.

After awhile the bus was driving down a desolate highway and it had begun snowing outside. The students inside the bus began to laugh and talk amongst themselves but I was still able to hear the loud sigh from Mr. Rhodetsky.

"Oh, wonderful. It's starting to snow," the teacher sarcastically remarked.

"Yeah, fresh powder!" Paul cheered and everyone began to agree at once.

"This isn't a snowmobile trip, people. Too much of the white stuff means we turn around," Mr. Rhodetsky explained, glaring.

Everyone including myself gave disappointed sighs. I was seated in the seats next to Scott across the aisle and could see him look sadly outside the window at the snow (probably missing Jean). Rogue, a few empty seats behind him, leaned over the seat in front of her with a bored look on her face.

Suddenly the sound of frantic cries inside the bus and the screams of terrified teenagers filled the bus as it skid down an icy turn and began to swerve all over the road. My breathing quickened as my fear increased. The bus began to bounce up and down and I held my seat to steady myself. I looked to my right and gasped when suddenly Scott opened his window and stretched his head out. I could hear the sound of a tiny blast and recognized it immediately as his eye beams. I could feel the left wheels of the bus hover above the ground for a moment but luckily they settled back down and everyone gave a sigh of relief.

I closed my eyes for a moment and looked up to see Mr. Rhodetsky, the driver, look worriedly back at all the kids. He spoke, "Everybody ok?"

Everyone gave there muttered 'yes's.

Paul mumbled, "Now what?"

"We head back," Mr. Rhodetsky answered almost immediately. He would probably loose his job if anything happened to us. Plus I don't think he wanted anything to happen to himself either.

Mr. Rhodetsky put the keys in the engine and started the bus but failed miserably.

He looked back at us and spoke, "Okay, people, now, who wants to get out and push?"

Rogue got up from her seat and walked through the aisle to the head of the bus.

"Mr. Rhodetsky, why not take our snowmobiles to the cave and wait out the weather there?" she suggested.

"Yes! Love that idea," Paul agreed. He nodded his head and everyone gave their shouts of approval.

"Yeah!"

"Sounds good to me!"

"Let's do it."

Mr. Rhodetsky put his head in his hands and sighed in defeat.

So because of Rogue's great idea all the students walked outside of the bus and got the snowmobiles. Everyone partnered up and took a snowmobile out to the caves. Rogue and I were partnered up and since I had no idea how to ride a snowmobile, Rogue took the front and I was in the back.

We were riding in the snow side by side Scott and Paul. Rogue smirked and challenged, "Test your mettle, tough guy?"

"What? No! No racing, no!" I shrieked. Was she crazy or something? Did she want us dead or something? I certainly wanted to live to see tomorrow.

"You're on," Scott nodded in agreement. Paul followed in agreement and so the mighty race began.

Suddenly our snowmobile gained acceleration and we were way ahead of Scott and Paul, yet I was too worries about keeping my head on. I shrieked as we began to go faster and faster. Rogue climbed up the side of a hill while Scott and Paul stayed on the same path. I shrieked as Rogue jumped off the side of the hill and rejoined Scott and Paul. Instead of crashing into them like I had thought, we landed in front of them and they ended up crashing into a tree.

"Oh, whoa. Look, you know what? I've had enough," I heard Paul cry. He wasn't the only one who felt that way.

I looked behind and saw Scott trying to keep up with us. Suddenly our snowmobile began to gain speed and I closed my eyes in fear. I moaned, "Oh, I think I'm gonna be sick!"

Once I opened my eyes I could hear the sound of Scott and Paul's snowmobile start to go faster in order to beat us. "Aw, no, no, no! Forget it, you maniac!" I heard Paul shout once more.

Rogue and Scott couldn't hear our pleas. This was a battle just between them now. I heard Paul's scream as Scott went faster and was now ahead of Rogue and me. We were right behind them and now winding down a twisting path. I was ready to throw my stomach right then and there but had no time. I looked ahead and saw Scott extremely close to the side of the path and shrieked when I looked down at the VERY long way down to the bottom. I gasped when suddenly Rogue rammed into them and both Paul and Scott toppled over.

"Lean in! Lean in!" Scott shouted hoarsely.

I sighed in relief as I looked behind me to see them get their snowmobile upright. They stopped. At least Rogue and I wouldn't be charge with murder now. I had already gone to jail once; I didn't plan on going a second time.

Rogue and I were the 'victors' since we arrived at the Taepo Caves before anyone else. When Scott and Paul Rogue walked over to them and smirked, "No trophies for second place."

"How'd a southern gal like you learn to handle a snowmobile?" Scott asked in wonder.

"Let's just say I'm full of surprises," Rogue chuckled.

Later, once the whole class had arrived at the Taepo Caves, we were all gathered inside and around Mr. Rhodetsky.

"Okay, we're stuck here. Might as well make the best of it. So, in review," Mr. Rhodetsky began and gestured to a rock, "metemorphic rock. Question, what has altered it from its original state?"

I waved my hand up in the air and shouted, "Ooh, I know! I know!"

"Yes, Miss Woodrow," Mr. Rhodetsky called.

"Heat, pressure, or chemical change," I answered automatically.

"Yes … correct," Mr. Rhodetsky smiled impressed.

He continued on with his lesson and I hardly paid any attention after I had answered his geological question. I looked behind me and saw Rogue walking off somewhere else, separating from the group. Scott followed her, his curiosity probably getting the best of him (like me).

I began to walk off toward Scott when suddenly I stopped in my tracks, surprising myself. All this meddling would surely be hazardous for me and possibly for others around me. It might be best if I NOT follow people out of my curiosity this time. Just once my curiosity would NOT get the best of me.

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**Violet:** Sorry for not updating in a while. Anyway … R/R! 


	9. A Series of Unfortunate Events

**Chapter 9:** A Series of Unfortunate Events

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I followed Mr. Rhodetsky and the class and listened to his lectures, however I was incapable of stopping my mind from wavering. I kept thinking about Rogue and Scott. This time I wasn't thinking about the adventure I was missing out on. Plus, I felt guilty of all the eavesdropping I had been doing. Right now I was worried about them. I actually cared whether they were ok or not, and yet I had not even had a single conversation with them. I mean I still cared despite the fact they were weird mutie thingies.

"Mr. Rhodetsky!" I called.

"Yes Ms. Woodrow?" he asked, pausing during his lecture. "Do you have a question?"

"Actually, I just noticed Scott and Rogue aren't here. They might've gotten lost or something," I said.

The class began to mumble. A couple of them giggled, thinking about some of the "improper" things these two might be doing away from the class. My hand shot out forward again, "I volunteer to go out looking for them."

"The Taepo Caves are pretty huge, I don't want another student to get lost," Mr. Rhodetky said.

"I'll go with her. I've been here on vacation with my family and know these caves like the back of my hand," Paul declared and I was grateful for his volunteering. I wasn't sure if I wanted to go out looking for them by myself. After all, I didn't know as much about Bayville as Paul did.

Mr. Rhodetsky sighed. There was a moment of silence for Mr. Rhodetsky could think. Reluctantly, he nodded his head, "Fine, but don't get lost."

Paul and I nodded and the class watched us depart. I followed Paul and there was an awkward silence between them. If I haven't already mentioned it before, I HATE awkward silences. They're so … awkward and I hate feeling awkward.

"So where should we start looking?" I asked him.

Suddenly Paul halted in front of me and I accidentally bumped in to him. He turned around slowly, and I gasped seeing yellowish, devil eyes. Gulping, I backed away from him ever so slightly – also hoping he wouldn't follow me.

I didn't say anything. I mean, _what would_ I say? "Paul you need new contacts?" I don't think so. Was Paul a mutant too? I didn't doubt it considering all the mutants that lived in Bayville. Paul could be one of them, but why show me his powers? All the other mutants seemed so uptight about it. They tried desperately to hide their true selves. Maybe Paul knew I knew and that was why he was showing me – to confront me about it. Whoa … getting carried away with my imagination again…

My lungs let out a sharp scream as Paul pounced on top of me. My eyes widened in shock and fear when suddenly Paul's face was no longer his own. No longer was the figure on top of me Paul, it was instead a blue skinned, red-haired, yellowish devil eyed female who was obviously a mutant. But a mutant I had never seen before. This mutant didn't look human – she looked like a swamp creature or something.

"Get off!" I said struggling myself from her grip.

"Not so fast. Apparently you know too much," the woman said, her voice sounding indistinctly familiar.

"What?" I asked, pretending to be unbeknownst of what she was talking about.

"You're too much of a liability, therefore you need to go," the woman said.

Was she going to kill me? I mean it was obvious she was talking about me knowing about mutants. She was worried I was going to tell everyone, which I wouldn't. Yet, anyway.

"What are you talking about?" I demanded.

"Don't play dumb with me blondie. I've had Pietro follow you to confirm my suspicions and they proved to be correct," she explained.

"What?" I shrieked. "That silver-haired freak's been following me around?"

"Exactly. And now you have to disappear," the blue skinned woman said and punched readily into my face.

Fear and panic struck in and I jerked my head to the side so she only ended up hitting the rocky, dirt covered ground. I wriggled from underneath her and kicked her shin hard so her grip on me loosened. I stood up frantically and was ready to run away when suddenly she grabbed me by the arms and twisted. She then spun me around and my body met with the rocky wall. I groaned and slid down on the ground in pain from the wall smashing.

"You can make this hard or you can make this easy. Either way, you die," the evil redhead woman said and kicked me heard in the face. I could feel blood escaping my nose and my eyes began to water up. I was going to die…

Suddenly she picked me up by the collar and dragged me to the cliff where the ground was very, VERY, VERY, far away. I shrieked as my body hung in the open air. My only life support was the woman holding me up by the back of my jacket.

I was going to cry. But I didn't have time.

My screams echoed high and low as I felt my body falling slowly down…down…down. The air whooshed past me as my surroundings seemed to blur before my eyes. The feeling and urgency to live kicked in and I grabbed a rock that was jabbed into the caves outer exterior. It was out enough to grab and so I did. My legs dangled out in open space. I looked up and saw that the blue skinned woman was no longer there.

Sighing, I took in a deep breath. With all my strength, I began lifting myself onto the rock. I laid on top of the smooth surface for a while and then backed myself away from the cold open air. To my dismay it slowly began to snow. My breathing hardened and I felt my heart pounding against my chest. It felt like nothing I had ever experienced before. I had missed death by barely an inch. I was alive and I would keep it that way.

I pinched my nose hard as I felt blood beginning to escape it. If only I had a tissue with me…

The problem now was how to get back into the cave. I looked up, hesitantly, my fear of heights overtaking me. Carefully I stood up and grabbed onto a rock. Luckily for me I had rock climbed before, but only on those fake ones. When it came to the real thing I was too afraid to do it so my mom took me out of the class.

I adjusted my foot ever so timidly onto a rock and pulled myself up, rock by rock. Rock by rock until I was finally at the top where the blue-skinned woman had fought me. I looked around, scared she would pop out in my face again. As I began to walk I realized I had strained my arm and grabbed it in pain.

Never in my life had I been this hurt. My back hurt. My nose was bleeding. My stomach was bruised. I had strained my arm. My head was pounding and my legs were sore.

If only I had minded my own business. Stupid Haley! This is what you get for eavesdropping so much. A blue-skinned lady tries to kill you because of it. The one thing that didn't make sense though was why she was willing to go to extreme lengths to keep the mutant secret a secret. Plus she had Pietro follow me around for who knows how long. He was after all very speedy so I probably hadn't noticed him following me around.

I groaned and walked so slowly around the cave that my mind didn't even register after a while that I was lost. I was ready to let the waterworks out and give up in defeat when suddenly I heard a pair of voices. I knew never to eavesdrop again, but I had to if I wanted to go back home on my nice comfy bed. I missed mom. I missed dad. I even missed Max.

"We, uh-" a familiar, masculine voice stammered. I peeked out with my tired eyes to see Rogue and Scott together. They were fine and I just _had_ to volunteer to go look for them. Stupid, stupid Haley!

"It's true, isn't it? I know all about your battle simulation; the one where I'm the enemy?" Rogue demanded. She turned away. I couldn't see her face but it seemed like she was going to cry.

"No, no, wait! Rogue, i-it's complicated. We're not who you think we are and we've never tried to hurt you. You've been lied to. We want you with us," Scott said. My brain hurt too much to contemplate on what he had said. I didn't know who "we" was and how Rogue had been "lied" to and as far as I was concerned it was none of my business – for the moment.

"Yeah? Well, sorry. Not interested," Rogue said, looking at him straight in the eye. A bit of viciousness was buried in her voice.

I gasped when suddenly Paul's form appeared out of the shadows. He (blue-skinned lady) looked at Scott and Rogue, "Hey, everything all right? Rhodetsky's lookin' for ya."

"Paul here's your friend, but I bet you never practice fighting him," Rogue said angrily and began to walk past Paul (red haired lady) when suddenly he (she) grabbed her by the arm.

"I'm afraid you'd-" Paul (yellow-eyed lady) began and slowly materialized into Principal Darkholme, "-lose that bet, Rogue."

Principal Darkholme! The Bayville High Principal was Paul or was it the other way around. Ok. Ok. Ok. Wait a second: Principal Darkholme was the blue-skinned lady. She's a mutant who can look like anything she wants. She was posing as Paul. She tried to kill me.

Got it.

"Hello, Scott. Are you more surprised to see me-" Principal Darkholme began and shifted into her (what I was assuming to be) natural state, "-or me?"

She laughed maliciously.

Scott looked appalled and pointed an accusing finger at her, "Principal Darkholme, _you're_ Mystique?"

"Something Professor Xavier neglected to tell you. Nice of him, wasn't it? You have no idea what he's been hiding from you. Let _me_ fill you in," Mystique said, putting her hands on her hips. Mystique. Interesting name. Was she born with that name or…

Suddenly Mystique pounced on Scott and pushed toward the edge of what look like a waterfall. Underground waterfall? Cool…

"You X-Men are nothing but puppets for Charles Xavier and I am sharply cutting your strings just so I can watch you fall!" Mystique accused. Her voice sounded bitter and her expression was raw with revenge.

X-men?

The sounds of Scott's scream could be heard as Mystique pushed him over the edge.

Shocked, Rogue ran over to the edge and looked down below. She covered her mouth in astonishment and cried out for the brown haired boy, "No! Scott!" She turned and glared at Mystique, demanding, "Why did you do that?"

Mystique crossed her arms unabashed by her actions. "I'm protecting you, dear. From his lies. He only wants to hurt you just like Charles Xavier and all the other X-men."

Again: X-men?

"And you _don't_? What did you do to Paul?" Rogue demanded, glaring daggers at the devil eyes woman. That's what I wanted to know too.

"Let's just say he missed the bus due to a little miscommunication about the departure time," Mystique explained and shifted back into the blonde haired boy known as Paul. "Now, let's rejoin the others and break the tragic news."

"No more secrets!" Rogue shouted. She took of her glove and grabbed Mystique/Paul's. Mystique cried out in pain and agony causing her to shift back into her true form. Rogue continued, "Your powers are mine! Your memories are mine!"

Rogue closed her eyes and squinted like she was seeing something flash before her eyes. I looked helplessly from Rogue to Mystique, wondering what to do. Should I break them apart or would that make a bigger mess?

Finally Mystique's comatose body fell to the ground and Rogue snapped out of her trance.

She shook her head and said, "Oh, Scott. I'm sorry."

The green-eyed girl rushed over to the edge and looked over. I followed her example and found Scott clinging to the side of a rock – similarly to what I had done before. She didn't notice me there. She was too focused on Scott. I gasped as Rogue shifted into Mystique and jumped down on the ledge above him as he began slowly slipping away. She shifted back to Rogue and grabbed his arm with her gloved hand.

"Gotcha!" Rogue declared.

I sighed in relief when suddenly Mystique began to stand up. She looked at me in shock, "I thought I got rid of you!"

"Well, I guess not," I retorted. She growled and lunged at me into the wall. I kicked her stomach with all my might and she went flying to the other side of the room, smashing against the wall.

Suddenly I felt my head throbbing and my heart thumping quicker. My vision was growing lighter and I felt glowing warmth on my hand. I brought my hands forward and a brilliance of light shot out across the room, barely missing Mystique. Instead, it hit a rock by the waterfall and it slowly became undone, falling off the cliff.

"No! Rogue!" Mystique shrieked and dived off the edge of the cliff.

I massaged my throbbing head and gasped in terror at what I had done. My breathing quickened and I ran over to the edge. I shivered as a cold breeze passed my way. Where was Rogue? Where was Scott? Where was Mystique? Were they dead or…?

Bringing my hands in front of me, I examined them. My hands … they … blasted that rock …

I stood there for what seemed like hours was only a few minutes. I took in a deep breath, ready to cry over this experience. Some lady was trying to kill me and now I had just blasted out light, knocking over that rock to where Rogue and Scott were.

"Haley! Haley!" a voice cried.

I turned around to see Miranda Wenkamp standing there looking over at my bloodied up nose and me. The purple haired girl glanced over at the underground waterfall and studied it with awe. She spoke, "Mr. Rhodetsky was worried sick about you, Scott, Rogue, and Paul. Where are they?"

Shrugging, I looked back at my hands. For a mere second I saw a light shining above them but then it was gone.

"What happened to you?" she asked again.

"I fell," I said and chuckled, "Tripped over my own foot."

The lie was reasonable for the moment. After all, what would she say if I told her the truth? A blue-skinned freak that was actually pretending to be Principal Darkholme attacked me. Then I blasted off a rock and because of that Rogue, Scott, _and_ Mystique, the blue-skinned lady, could all be dead?

"C'mon, Mr. Rhodetsky's looking for us," Miranda explained and we walked off together to the cave entrance where Mr. Rhodetsky and the other kids were.

This was a new chapter in my life. I had learned something about myself I never knew before. I could try denying it for all it was worth, but the truth would keep coming back. I was no longer _just_ Haley Woodrow. I was much more than that. I was Haley Woodrow, the mutant.

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**Violet:** I hope everyone like this chapter. R/R! 


	10. Mystery Solved

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**Chapter 10:** Mystery Solved

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After my field trip in the Taepo Caves, my parents bandaged up my nose and I neglected to tell them about my strained arm. It didn't hurt that much either so it wasn't a big deal. On Monday, everything _had_ changed. Rogue and Scott were alive thankfully, and so was Mystique because Principal Darkholme was there. I could have begged for my parents not to send me to school, afraid the principal would try and get me, but I couldn't. They'd want an explanation and I couldn't give them one. I couldn't honestly tell them my principal tried to kill me and she's actually a mutant in disguise.Rogue was living in the Xavier Institute now. People were wary of this, after all, who could believe someone living with the Brotherhood only a few days ago could be magically gifted all of a sudden. Plus, she didn't exactly _look_ gifted to be honest.

True it was embarrassing to go to high school with a big bandage on your nose, but that passed when I was allowed to take off the bandage. I tried hard to cut out any eavesdropping I would do, either on purpose or accidentally, but it was hard. I really wanted to find out who these "X-men" were. Perhaps a secret organization filled with mutants? It was possible.

Speaking of mutant, I tried hard to avoid the fact that I was. Maybe it was just a one time thing?

During passing period I was walking down the hall to my locker when Angie skipped to my side.

"Haley, mind if I borrow the trigonometry homework?" she asked, giving me her puppy dog eyes.

I gasped and looked suspiciously at Angie. Was this the _real_ Angie? Angie ALWAYS ALWAYS did her homework. If anything, I would be the one copying _her_ homework. This was too weird. It was impossible to believe _this_ Angie would neglect her homework. She got an A+ in every one of her classes for crying out loud!

"Sure," I said meekly, I unzipped my backpack to present her with a series of papers.

"Thanks so much! I owe you one," she sighed and sped off fast leaving me all by myself.

I walked idly to my Biology class next to a VERY annoying girl who was always smacking down a piece of gum. She tended to stick it in the hair of the girl sitting in front of her. It was gross, but I decided to ignore it in case she decided to put the gum in _my_ precious blonde hair.

Rogue was sitting way off in the back. Natalie came in tardy like usual and sat down behind me. After lunch she would meet Greg Ferguson, her new boyfriend, and they would flirt for a while and then the bell would ring and she would finally come to class. I personally didn't like Greg. He was dumb, but cute and I suppose that's all Natalie was going for. She told me once she wanted a relationship in which _she_ was the dominant one.

Mr. Snyder, the Biology teacher, coughed his throat so that everyone would hush up and he could begin his lecture. First he went over to the blinds and closed them.

"Today we will be watching a movie," he explained.

The class went into an uproar but it was soon silenced when he droned on, "about bacteria." The class groaned.

Mr. Snyder turned off the light and played the movie when suddenly a felt a sticky substance on my arm. I looked down at it and found a gross chewing gum applied on my arm. I sneered in disgust and dug it out with my pencil. I glared at Casey Coleman, the girl who sat next to me smacking gum all day.

"What was that for?" I asked.

"My other gum lost its flavor," she explained.

"You know what I mean!" I hissed as the announcer in the movie introduced the topic of "bacteria".

"Janice ain't here. I need to put the gum someplace," Casey shrugged. I looked at the desk in front of Casey and it was indeed empty. I groaned.

"How about in the trash?" I asked.

She shrugged and about 20 minutes into the movie I felt her press an object on my sleeve. I looked at my shirt and the sleeve was covered with sticky pink gum. I was ready to bawl. I wanted to slap that bratty girl in the face and shriek. How dare she? I was so mad. This was a new shirt!

The class gasped and looked around as the lights began to flicker on and off, on and off. My anger was reaching its boiling point and I couldn't do anything to stop it. The lights kept signaling off and on and now the TV screen and computer monitor. I grasped my head in pain when suddenly everything sparked out, leaving the class amidst complete darkness.

"What just happened?" one girl said slowly, looking up at the lights.

"Weird," a boy remarked.

"That was cool," another students replied.

"Was that a blackout or something?"

"No way."

"This school needs better stuff. It's so cheap."

Mr. Snyder coughed out loudly and bellowed, "Class! Settle down! Now!"

The class immediately hushed up and all eyes were directed at him. I breathed heavily, clutching my head. I tore the gum off my shirt and quickly gathered all my belongings. My heart was pounding and I just bolted out of the classroom, with no explanation whatsoever.

I leaned against a locker and sucked in a deep breath. I had did that hadn't I? I had caused the lights to flicker on and off in that classroom and I didn't even know I could do that.

"Haley?" a voice asked.

I looked to my right to see Jean Grey standing there, looking at me with concerned eyes.

"Yeah," I said, my voice trembling.

"Are you ok?" she asked.

"Yeah," I lied, "Why?"

(_I know what you did just now_), a voice breathed in my head. The voice was familiar, but I knew it was just my imagination.

(_It's me, Jean._), the voice continued.

I cocked my eyebrow and looked at Jean with distrust. How could she do that? Well, she _was_ a mutant after all. If she could move things with her mind, then maybe she could talk to other people using her mind as well.

"Huh?" I asked.

(_I know that you know about mutants. You've known for quite some time haven't you? And you probably have a lot of questions_), Jean voice said. She looked at me as though she was peering into my soul. She was studying me, trying to get more information from me.

(_Duh)_, I thought, feeling silly at _thinking_ this. Could she actually _hear_ my thoughts?

(_I'm a telepathic. I can read minds_.), she explained.

Angrily I looked her over, "You've been reading my mind?"

"It's not like that," Jean said, surprised at my sudden cold reaction.

"Yes it is!" I said accusingly, "Just stay away from me! _And_ my thoughts!"

With that the bell rang and busloads of students exited their classroom. I spun on my heel and ran out the doors to outside where the freshly cool air dispersed my anger. A telepathic was a person to be wary of, that's for sure. Would you want to be around a telepath with the constant knowledge they can invade your mind and read your thoughts? I don't think so! And that's exactly how I felt.

I sat on the bench outside school so I could get my head straight. I didn't feel like going home right now so I quickly dialed my mom's phone on my cell phone and told her I'd walk home. I also reassured her I wouldn't get kidnapped or anything.

My back rested against the bench and I let out a sigh.

Walking home was relieving actually. I got to experience the fresh air instead of the suffocating seat in my mom's van. I cocked my head as I neared the Xavier Institute and remembered that the only route I had ever taken home was by passing the institute. I walked on and admired the large mansion. I stopped for a few seconds to marvel at it when suddenly the tall gates opened up as if inviting me to enter.

My adventuresome side kicked in again. It hadn't been gone long. I took two steps inside the institute premises when suddenly the gates behind me closed up, as if locking me inside. I sighed. It _was_ my choice after all. I didn't have to go in but I did.

I stood there for a while when suddenly machines popped out from the ground and from a couple of statues. There aim was at _me_. I gasped and began to run farther into the institute and jumped up in surprise when a bullet hardly missed my foot. I jumped up in surprise again as another bullet hit and continued my run. I screamed and my hands shot out sending out a stream of light. It blasted the machine.

Wow!

My screams echoed loud as another "chime" sound was inserted as I shot my hands forward again, blasting a statue this time.

"Help!" I shrieked and ran farther and farther into the institute. I pounded on the doors as the guns looked more dangerous than ever. "Open the door!"

A gust of wind passed me by and the doors flew open, causing me to fall face first on the ground. The doors behind me closed, locking me in like the gates had done. As I began to stand up, I looked at my hands in awe. My "powers" had saved my life.

"Hello? Anyone in here?" I asked, my voice echoing inside the large mansion. I chimed, "_Hello_?"

I gasped as the familiar gust of wind spun around me and propelled me into the air. I was floating! Then the wind dispersed and I landed on my feet. I looked around. Where had that wind come from?

Gasping, the familiar African-American woman from Kevin's basketball game (and Evan's aunt) appeared.Her eyes were shining a brightsilver and her hands were out. I screamed as a surge of wind began pushing me back into the wall. I shot my hands forward, yet nothing happened. Once more: nothing.

I concentrated on my hands and closed my eyes. Reopening them, a saw two specks of lights dancing around in my hands. They weren't hot like I expected them to be, so with all my strength and threw them back at "Ororo." She easily dodged it.

The rushing wind kept coming but now with even more strength. I concentrated on my hands again and put them up. All of a sudden a yellow colored shield appeared, causing the wind to part sideways instead of hitting me. The shield wasn't very strong because it disappeared in a matter of seconds.

"Storm! That's enough!" a voice called and the white-haired woman stopped her assault. The voice continued, "Ms. Woodrow had proven that she is indeed a mutant."

"What?" I asked shocked. "What is this all about?"

"My name is Professor Charles Xavier and I run this institute," he explained. It was pretty obvious that he was in charge considering his last name was 'Xavier'. When he appeared I was astounded to see that he was a disabled man in a wheelchair and that he had no hair. I pictured Charles Xavier in a different way. I pictured him tall and obese with a round belly and rosy cheeks. I guess I was leaning more on an image of Santa Claus.

"Yeah," I said, urging him to continue.

"I have been given to believe that you are a mutant and I suppose you know what they are, considering you've been following my students around lately," Professor Xavier said with a hint of disapproval in his voice. "Under the guise of a private boarding school for gifted children, I run this establishment away from wary eyes of those who might judge. That is why I am pleased about your decision for keeping our secret."

"I guess," I trailed on.

"My computer, Cerebro, detects the sign of mutant power manifestations. Your powers emerged when you were battling Mystique, am I correct?" he asked. He knew he was right but he asked anyway so I nodded.

"Yeah what's up with her anyway?" I asked. "She _did_ try to kill me."

"Her intentions are not quite clear," Professor Xavier said. For some reason I doubted it. I wasn't telepathic but something about the way he said it made it seem like he knew more than he was letting on.

The middle-aged man led me to an area in the mansion where there were sofas. I sat down on one of the armchairs and we talked for a few more minutes and he answered all, or at least most of my answers. He ran this place with the purpose of teaching mutants how to control their powers and the X-men were his top students who ran sort of missions.

"I'm extending an invitation to you to join my institute," Professor Xavier said.

What? Live with other freaks like myself? Train to "learn how to use my gift"? No way! Uh-uh! Not going to happen!

"I understand if you need more time to think about it," Professor Xavier said.

"Actually, I've decided no. This place – it's just not for me," I explained. "I'm a mutant and I except that. Whether it's a curse or a gift – I haven't decided. My own principal tried to kill me and one of your advisors attacked me just now. No."

Professor Xavier sighed, "It's understandable. But if you ever change your mind-"

I looked at him, "I won't."

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**Violet:** I hope everyone likes this chapter! R/R 


	11. Lights, Camera, Action!

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**Chapter 11: **Lights, Camera, Action!

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"Haley!" a voice squealed.

"Huh?" I turned around to see Angie and Natalie skipping toward me. "What?"

"Are you gonna tryout?" Angie asked gleefully with a hint of girly-ness in her voice.

"For what?" I asked.

"For the play!" Natalie shrieked as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. She pointed at a blue and red poster with a Nosferatu-like vampire wings that said 'Dracula' at the top.

"Well?" Angie asked.

I chuckled, "No way! Why?"

"Because Natalie and I are gonna tryout," Angie said. "We wanted to know if you were too."

"Why would I?" I asked.

Just then the answer revealed itself. Jason, right now the hunkiest guy in school, came into view and walked down the hallway carrying a pile of books and papers. Out came Rogue with Kitty jogging up ahead to catch up with the Gothic when suddenly she ran smack into Jason. The two teenagers papers spilled across the hallway.

"Oh, sorry. Could I be any clutzier?" Kitty giggled girlishly, batting her eyelashes. It made me want to hurl. Ugh!

"No problem. Let me help," Jason said and, as the gentleman as he was, bent down and began gathering all the papers and books.

Angie gave a sigh, looking at the handsome boy. Natalie followed in unison and they both just stared at the boy with dreamy eyes. I wanted to puke at their girlishness. Hello! He was just a boy. Well … a cute boy. I had to admit, he had nice features. Pretty eyes, sweet smile, luxurious hair, a nice round…

Stop it Haley! I refuse to be another stereotypical girl chasing after some guy because she has nothing better to do. I assumed Rogue felt the same way considering she was rolling her eyes at Kitty and Jason's "love" scene.

"Don't you have a boyfriend?" Angie asked, pouting at Natalie. She obviously wanted to keep Jason all to herself.

"We broke up," Natalie simply answered.

"Since when?" Angie asked suspiciously.

"Since now," Natalie answered as Greg passed her way. She cleared her throat, "Oh Greg dear! We're done."

Greg looked surprised at her. So with his head down, he continued to walk past us in the hallway. Natalie had a tendency to have a lot of boyfriends at the same time. Or at least she never had the same boyfriend for too long. Her record, from what Angie had told me, was three weeks. That didn't really count though since that boyfriend was on vacation with his parents and once he came back Natalie broke things up. Well … at least she gave the boy some clarity instead of him coming to school one day and finding she already at three boyfriends lined up.

Angie crossed her arms and gave Natalie her death glare. I rolled my eyes at the two.

Before giving Kitty anymore time with Jason, Angie skipped up to the two and shooed Kitty away. She looked dreamily at Jason and spoke, "So, um, Jason, whatcha doin'?"

"Hanging posters," he answered, oblivious that the two girls were practically clawing at each other. I was relieved Natalie decided to keep out of this.

When he turned around, both girls stopped their hair pulling almost immediately and gave Jason their separate sweet looks. The oblivious boy continued, "Auditions for the school play are tomorrow night. Hey, you guys are gonna try out, right? We need girls who can sing and dance."

"So, like, what part do you play?" Kitty asked sweetly, batting her eyelashes.

I felt sorry for the poor guy. Flustered, he answered, "Uh, I'm the uh, male lead."

"You're gonna be Dracula?" Angie asked, making her voice sound bewildered. She wanted it to sound like it was the coolest thing in the world to be. This unfortunately made Jason more agitated.

"Cool. Well, then, duh!" Kitty began, slapping her forehead, "I mean, yeah, sure. Of course I'm gonna totally try out."

"Me too!" Angie declared. Kitty turned around and gave Angie a menacing glare.

"Great. Then I'll see you both tomorrow," Jason said, giving them both a sweet smile. With that he left them.

So before Angie and Kitty got into a major catfight, both Natalie and I pulled the Chinese girl out of the ring. She gave Kitty one last death glare and sped off to the girl's bathroom. Natalie and I looked at each, shaking our heads.

"Can you believe her?" Natalie asked.

"I never thought Angie would be all over a guy and actually competing with another girl for his attention," I said, shaking my head again.

Natalie shrugged.

When the last bell rang, declaring the school day officially over, I was walking out of the school gates when suddenly a blonde haired kid on a skateboard with a digital camera popped up in my face. I shrieked and glared at the boy named Evan Daniels.

"Get that camera OUT of my face!" I yelled, irked by his sudden appearance.

"Sorry Hales. Just thought I could get some footage of you for my class project," Evan said apologetically, yet he persisted to follow me around with the camera.

"Why do you want _me_ on that thing?" I asked, pointing to the digital camera.

"Cause I wanted to," Evan replied stupidly.

"Oh that's absoltley marvelous!" I said in a fake British-accent.

"Really?" Evan asked.

"No!" I yelled, continuing on my walk. "And if I find any trace of me on that film I will slaughter you!"

Evan put down the camera and raised his hand in defense, "Ok, ok. Don't have to go all Charlie's Angels on me."

I sighed as he hopped on his skateboard and sped away. He took off down the stairs, camera in hand. He jumped over the side of the steps and over a few people. He swerved around, narrowly missing some kids. Next he ran through a boy handing a girl some papers, unfortunately knocking the papers down. He waved to them sheepishly.

Shaking my head, I walked down the steps to see Angie and Kitty arguing a few feet away. I ran over to them and called out, "Hey!"

Kitty and Angie looked over at me and then just turned away, walking their own separate ways. I sighed. Hopefully their little feud wouldn't last too long. I mean – come on! It's _just_ a boy. A very handsome boy…

I shook my head.

Today I'd be walking home since mom and dad had to meet with Max's math teacher about his poor grades. Sometimes it's hard to be the smart one in the family (sigh). Max was the athletic one. I was all about brains while he was all about brawns. Seriously! Max played soccer during the summer, basketball during the fall, he used to snowboard during the winters before moving to Bayville, and during the spring he'd play flag football. What did I do? I parents forced me to play the piano during the summer even though I was horrible at it. In the fall I took a ceramics course with my mom, but it was horrible so I begged her to drop me out of the class. During the winter they had enrolled me in ice-skating even though I always fell down and landed on my butt. Finally in the spring I took up sewing but instead ended up getting lots of blisters.

I walked to a familiar sidewalk around the campus grounds when I saw the familiar Evan Daniels gliding in the air and falling into an alley. I ran toward the alley to see Evan lying in loads and loads of garbage. Ew! Ew! Ew! I ran over to him and called out to him beneath the many layers of garbage, "Evan! Are you ok?"

He groaned and rubbed his back, "Yeah. I guess."

Suddenly the sound of a snarl caused me to turn around. I gasped seeing a tall figure in the distance with a menacing glare. He was obviously a mutant, but what separated him from Evan (and me) was that he was dangerous looking. Crossed between a cat and man, the tall, yellow-teethed man was looking at Evan's digital camera. He put it down and then just ran off. I couldn't help notice that the evil-looking mutant needed serious tooth brushing. I mean considering the yellow teeth, he must also have bad breath. Hello! Anyone ever heard of a breath mint before?

Evan stood up from the pile of garbage and spikes protruded from his arms and legs. I gasped in alarm as he did this and then sighed. Obviously he knew that I knew since Jean and the Professor knew. Also considering he just used his powers in front of me …

He snarled, riding his skateboard out of the alley, "Man, somebody is lookin' for some trouble!"

I ran after him and found him crouching on the ground with the digital camera in his hands. Obviously he didn't know why the were-cat was so interested in his camera either. Maybe the digital camera was a lethal weapon _disguised_ as a digital camera – or maybe not. After all, he had just looked at it and ran away. I made a mental note to myself to ask Evan who that were-cat was later.

"Aw, man. I hope it isn't busted," Evan sighed, examining the camera. Sighing, I contemplated that maybe Evan wasn't as insightful as me. He didn't even care what the were-cat man was up to. "Does it look ok to you?"

"It looks fine," I sighed. Maybe I was reading too much into this?

We walked down the sidewalk when suddenly Todd Tolensky appeared out of nowhere in his usual ugly appearance. He waved and hopped toward us.

"'Sup, Daniel? Woodrow?" Todd said, acknowledging the both of us.

"Todd you wouldn't know a were-cat-man by any chance, would you?" I asked.

Todd just looked at me like I was delusional and stuck a finger in his ear. He spoke, "I think the whole 'being a mutant' thing is getting to you Woodrow."

"You know about that?" I asked surprised. I knew Evan and everyone else living in the Xavier Institute would know, but how would Todd know?

"'Course. Practically half the mutant community knows," Todd said, and began counting off on his fingers, "Lance, Freddie, Pietro, the X-Geeks, Mystique…"

"Mystique? The Mystique who tried to kill me?" I asked dumbfounded.

"Yeah. What happened with that?" he asked.

"Well I'm alive aren't I?" I asked, peeved off.

_Luckily_ I was alive. And _luckily_ Professor Xavier hadn't told my parents about me being a mutant. Maybe he sensed that off of me. I wanted to tell my parents. I really did but for the moment I couldn't. Not yet. Not now. And speaking of the 'X-Geeks', who I was assuming to be the 'X-men', none of them had approached me about being a mutant except for Jean of course. I saw her twice that school day and we had made eye contact. I sensed she wanted to come over and talk to me, but I hadn't given her a chance. I keep running off. I guess being a mutant is a big deal around here. And when a mutant's powers 'manifest', word spreads quickly.

Todd looked at Evan, his finger still in his ear. He trailed, "So Daniels…"

"What do you want, Tolensky?" Evan asked, just as annoyed as I was.

"I heard about your movie. Check me out," Todd said and with that leapt up on the railing, doing a handstand. He then jumped to a nearby window, back flipped off the window, and slid down the railing. "Style, charisma. The Toad's got it all, yo. So start shootin' already."

"Take a hike, Tolensky. I got too much respect for my craft," Evan said.

I took pity on Todd but the toad/mutant didn't seem to mind. He shrugged (probably thinking it was Evan's own loss) and hopped away.

Evan looked at me, "Oh yeah! I just remembered. Jean said she wanted to talk to you at the mansion tomorrow. See ya!"

With that he just rolled off on his skateboard. He made me want to sneer. Evan wasn't a very talkative or even attentive young lad. Plus, I knew what Jean wanted to talk to me about. Professor Xavier still wanted me to come to the institute and he was asking Jean to try and persuade me, thinking she was the best person for the job. Yet no matter who tried persuading me, my final answer would be 'no'. I didn't want to be an X-man. Ororo practically attacked me. I had seen how they had recruited Evan when we got arrested. I didn't want to be an X-person!

I would go anyway though – just to tell them 'no'.

The following morning I woke up bright and early. It was a Saturday and I hadn't forgotten to meet Jean at the institute.

I got up, ran to the bathroom, changed my clothes, brushed my teeth, and ate breakfast. My dad was at the head of the table reading the paper. My mom was reading 'Reader's Digest' while making her famous blueberry waffles and Max was reading the back of the cereal box. I was the only one without reading material but I didn't need one. My mind was far off someplace else.

"Mom, can you drop me off in front of the Xavier Institute later?" I asked.

She gasped, "Did they make you an offer?"

"No. I'm just going to see a friend there," I explained.

"Oh well, your friend can still make you a good recommendation," my mom said.

I sighed at her ignorance – at _everyone's _ignorance. They knew not of what the Xavier Institute really held, which was a secret like no other. They didn't know of the mutants who lived there. They knew nothing of these 'X-men'. They were unaware of the fact that there were many others like them in all areas of the world. How horrible was it to delude these people! I kept their secret against my better judgment though. I had to.

Once my mom dropped me off in front of the institute I hopped off and stood in front of the gates. It opened up automatically like it had before. I took two steps in and the gates closed behind me.

"Haley!" a female voice called.

I turned around and saw Jean standing there waving at me with perky smile. It irked me how happy she was even though she was a total freak. She was a prep though. She was involved in extracurricular activities, had a steady boyfriend, had a very long list of friends with more charms on her fingers than I could count.

"Hi," I said, pretending to sound ecstatic. I know I'm putting up a fake façade but I can't honestly be rude to her.

"I'm glad you decided to drop by and, hey, I know where you're coming from. It's not easy to take things like this too lightly," Jean said in a motherly tone. Ugh!

"Thanks," I said. I guess I could wait to tell her 'no'. No rush. Besides, it couldn't hurt to look around. My mind was made up though. I would never EVER become a stupid X-man.

She spoke in her tenderly voice, "I thought that maybe you could look around and see what everyone's up to. It'll give you an idea how things are around here."

With that she left me to be all by my lonesome. It didn't bother me though. If she had decided to stay thought it might have bothered me. I'd feel awkward and uncomfortable with her standing over me ever second. Maybe she sensed that too.

I was walking around the outskirts of the mansion where I heard a pair of masculine voice. When I peered around the corner to see who it was it happened to be two men in costume. What is this – Halloween? One looked just a few years older than me but the other one looked much older.

"Wolverine! Watch your back!" the younger one said as a net came flying at the older one.

This was supposed to help you control your powers. I didn't need help controlling _my _powers. Sure I went a little off in Biology the other day but it was just a one-time thing. No biggie. If I needed to control my powers I could do it myself. How hard could it be to control something about yourself? It's like controlling your hormones or something. No big deal!

As the two were dodging Frisbee things, Evan came skateboarding down the path with that digital camera of his. I almost bumped into me but he luckily went around me just in time. He rode by where the older man known as Wolverine was and the younger man was, shooting them while he rolled.

"Now that's reality T.V.," he commented.

Suddenly spiked balls came out of the machine the two men were practicing on and they flew at Wolverine. Metal claws extracted from his knuckles and he sliced them to bits, but they kept on flying. I gasped as they were heading toward Evan and in a moment's notice I was running toward Evan. In my act of bravery, I pushed Evan down from his skateboard and I fell down with him.

I breathed a sigh of relief but fear struck me as one of the spiky discs got sawed into the side of the mansion. The other one was decapitated in a statue (a statue that had attacked me recently) and the third one was sawed into a tree branch. Are they crazy to have those things!

Looking over at Evan, I spoke, "Are you ok?"

"Yeah," Evan said, just as perplexed as I was.

"Your welcome," I said sarcastically.

Evan was snapped into awareness and he looked over at me. He spoke, "Oh, yeah, um, thanks, for, um…"

"Saving your life," I completed for him.

"Yeah," Evan nodded. He seemed to be off in his own little world.

By now Wolverine and the other guy were running towards us. Wolverine looked angry under his mask and yelled at Evan, at the same time with worry in his voice, "What do you think you're doin' here, _bub_? Those things coulda taken your empty head right off!"

"I-I was just tryin' to get-" Evan stammered.

"Give me that thing!" Wolverine said enraged, and snatched the digital camera from Evan.

"Hey!" Evan protested. "Give it back!"

I was still lying on the ground when suddenly the younger man offered me his hand. That was when I finally recognized him to be Scott Summers. Weird how different he looked dressed in that costume. He offered me his hand and I graciously accepted it.

"Are you ok?" he asked me.

I nodded, "Thanks."

"I should be thanking you. Luckily for Evan if you weren't standing there then we'd have a big mess to clean up," Scott chuckled.

I shuddered at the bloodied image. Double Ew!

Suddenly all eyes were on Wolverine and Evan. Wolverine was looking at the tape and the were-cat-man was on it. He spoke, showing his malicious yellow teeth, "Thanks for showin' me where Logan is, kid. I owe you one."

"Who the heck was that?" Evan asked surprised.

Are you kidding me? Had he really not noticed the were-cat-man standing there yesterday holding the camera? Was he _that_ oblivious to what the world around him contained? It's like he was off in his own little world all the time. He constantly needed a chaperone so his head wouldn't slice off.

"Sabretooth," Wolverine growled in a low breath.

"He's got old issues with Wolverine and it looks like you've clued him in to our location," Scott clarified.

Suddenly the alarms around the institute began to blare out. Wolverine growled again in his rugged manner, "Ya think?"

The sound of footsteps could be heard from behind me and I looked to see Jean's redhead coming at me. She looked worriedly at me and spoke, "Haley, I think you better go inside. I don't want you to get hurt. We'll take care of this."

"But-" I protested.

"Please. Sabretooth is very dangerous and I don't want you getting hurt," Jean said, her eyed filed with worry.

With that I left.

I was walking around the institute from the inside thinking about how dangerous the life of an X-man really was. Jean Grey wasn't a really annoying, preppy person either. Sure it was annoying how motherly she acted and it irked me how 'perfect' she was. Good grades. Athletic. Etc. Despite all that I knew she would be a good friend – a caring, _motherly_ friend, but a good friend nevertheless.

Jean gave me a tour of the institute. She should me this 'Danger Room' where the mutants living at the institute do their practices. The institute was a large place, larger than I had expected when I had came there two times before. This time I had been taken to places I hadn't been before.

The redhead telekinetic went on her way and I was left to be by myself again. Just then the sulking face of Evan Daniels could be seen. He looked sad and guilty and my heart went out to him. Jean had told me to stay in the institute since Sabretooth was still on the loose and could harm me as well, even though I wasn't part of the X-men. She hadn't quite given me the details and everything so I went over to him and in a friendly tone greeted, "What's up?"

"I am a horrible person!" Evan groaned.

"No! You are not!" I protested.

"Yes, I am. I mean how stupid am I? I've ruined everything," Evan cried. "Auntie O's probably gonna ship me back home now."

He told me how his digital camera had led Sabretooth to know where the institute's whereabouts were. Apparently he had been taping the institute and Sabretooth and found him doing so. That's why he had been looking at the tap earlier before.

"You'll figure something out," I reassured.

Evan looked unconvinced when suddenly the sounds of two females arguing could be heard. Both our ears perked up to acknowledge the presence of Rogue and Kitty Pryde. They looked both equally annoyed at each other and I couldn't help wonder why.

"I gotta practice my audition and you been hoggin' the soundtrack all mornin'!" Rogue argued.

"Hey, I bought it. Get your own," Kitty retorted.

I recalled the auditions for the Dracula play earlier today. Angie told me she was rehearsing the whole day yesterday and that her feet were VERY sore. I sympathized how she felt but shrugged since I couldn't possibly do anything for her without touching her feet.

A sneaky smirk emerged on Evan's face. Apparently he had formed a plan inside his tiny little head and he was about to carry it out.

"Ladies, ladies, maybe we can all help each other out here," Evan smirked.

"What do _you_ want?" Kitty and Rogue asked simultaneously in an irritated voice. They glared at each other once more.

"Look, you two think you can stop arguing long enough to help me do something important?" Evan asked. He looked at me. "You too."

"Why me?" I groaned.

"What do you want us to do?" Rogue asked, crossing her arms.

"I'll explain on the way," Evan said, a hint of sneakiness mixed in his words. "But just to warn you first? We might have to do a _bit_ of improvising."

It was night by the time Rogue had taken out the motorcycle from the garage. She and I shared the motorcycle and it didn't seem to bother me although remembering the snowmobile incident…

Kitty and Evan were sharing his skateboard. When Evan had explained his plan, we learned our destination was to the woods. I was a bit excited and nervous at the same time considering this would be the first time I'd be partaking in a 'mutant-type adventure'.

When we got to the woods, it was silenced by darkness, but not for long. Evan pointed at me and I nervously looked at my hands.

"You can do it," Kitty supported. I smiled thankfully to her for her encouragement and then looked back at my pale skinned hands.

"I can do this," I repeated to myself. I closed my eyes and stretched my arms out in front of me. I raised them atop my head and a bright light emerged. I panicked as I began to loose focus and the light seemed to be stretching out in various ways from the oval it was construed in. I gulped and closed my eyes, trying to regain my focus. I stretched my arms and the light exploded in midair, engulfing the woods in its brilliance. I sighed and fell to my knees in exhaustion.

Evan had his camera out now that there was some lighting, thank to my powers and I. Awesome huh? I felt so proud of myself that I wanted to brag.

Music could be heard from Kitty's CD for the Dracula play. Kitty began to dance, but Rogue just sort of swayed in place.

"C'mon, Rogue, get with the program! Shake that thing," Evan encouraged. Rogue snorted.

"Hey, she's got her moves, I've got mine," Rogue retorted.

"Yeah, girl, you gotta go with it, you know? You're like a walking zombie or somethin'," Kitty said, sort of in an encouraging manner as well.

"Go Rogue!" I cheered.

"Hey, listen, Rogue, how 'bout you shed them gloves and give K-girl a tiny tap?" Evan suggested. I shook my head. Who talked like that?

"What?" Rogue asked angrily, crossing her arms.

"No way!" Kitty protested, equally as angry with her hands on her hips.

"Listen to me, just enough to rip Kitty's moves," Evan explained.

"Might work. Just concentrate on 'em," Rogue shrugged.

"Okay, but you'd better not like, lay me out," Kitty warned.

With that Rogue removed her gloves and gave Kitty a tiny tap. They both shivered.From what I had learned, Rogue's powers allowed her to take another mutant's powers or a person's memories/talents by a single tap.

"Whoa," Kitty said.

"That was like, pretty icksome," Rogue said. Evan and I burst out laughing as she said this. Rogue didn't think it funny though. She spoke, disgustedly, "Am I _talkin'_ like her?"

"Okay, let's get on with it. Action!" Evan commanded.

Kitty turned up the boom box and I looked up at the lights I had in place. Slowly the energy from them was draining as the lighting was beginning to dim.

"Lookin' good. Lookin' good," Evan commented.

"Hey Haley! Do something about those lights," Rogue suggested as she danced next to Kitty.

I nodded when suddenly our long awaited presence of Sabretooth appeared.

"Evan," I hissed.

He nodded and kept filming the girls when suddenly I looked at the two light specks in my hands and turned around. I threw them with full force at Sabretooth and he crashed into a nearby tree.

The lights were growing dimmer.

Sabretooth was obviously angered by this. He snarled and pounced nar where Evan was standing. He picked the African-American boy up from the shirt and sneered, "You're mine."

As planned Rogue removed her gloves as Sabretooth lifted Evan above his head.

The lights disappeared and we were engulfed in darkness. I shot my hands up like before and a big light speck exploded into the sky like fireworks. Hopefully they had gotten the message. When I looked back at Sabretooth and Evan, Evan's spikes were all over his arms and legs. He reminded me of a porcupine…

"You gotta be sharp if you're gonna mess with the Spyke," Evan smirked. Sabretooth growled and flung the blonde boy at Rogue. They both toppled over on the ground.

"Ready?" I asked Kitty and she simply nodded.

The brunette walked in front of Sabretooth. She taunted in a singsong voice, "Oh Mr. Cat?"

Sabretooth sneered, "I'll take you!"

He charged at her and Kitty smirked, "Right, I am _so_ sure. Huh?"

The were-man phased right through her and landed on the ground instead where a blast of light (coming from me), hit him straight on.

Finally Wolverine had arrived. He spoke, "Pickin' on kids, Creed? Big mistake."

The two rivals exchanged a series of insults and finally Wolverine flung Sabretooth but he ended up landing on his two feet. Cats land on all fours right? I guess it goes the same for were-cat-men. Rogue appeared from behind Sabretooth and zapped. Before my very own eyes she began growing fur. She had fangs, claws, pointed ears, and longer hair.

"Aw, and I just shaved my legs last night!" Rogue complained.

"You planned this, didn't you, porcupine?" Wolverine asked Evan.

Evan nodded, rubbing the back of his neck. He spoke, "Um, a-a little bit. Yeah."

"Well, don't do it again! You coulda all been killed!" Wolverine yelled. "And don't give me them puppy dog eyes, half-pint. You're grounded and so are the rest of ya."

"Um, for how long?" Evan asked.

"I dunno. 'Til she-wolf there gets a haircut anyway," Wolverine answered.

Rogue crossed her arms and pouted.

Wolverine may have had a tough, mean exterior; he still cared for his students. Plus I wasn't grounded. Wolverine looked at me, "And just because you don't live here doesn't mean you're not in trouble either."

I laughed sheepishly.

Scott was kind enough to give me a lift home but Kitty, Rogue, and Evan insisted on coming as well. When I got out of the car Kitty asked, "So have you like decided to come live with us now?"

I blushed and answered, "Well before I didn't want to. My mind hasn't changed, but now I think that the institute won't be such a bad place to live in. Who knows? Maybe I'll change my mind some day."

Kitty smiled as Scott's red, white striped car revved around and sped off toward the institute.

The day had certainly been adventurous, so to contemplate 'someday'?

Why not?

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**Violet:** Thanks to all who reviewed. Keep on reviewing! Thanx! 


	12. Family Feud

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**Chapter 12: **Family Feud

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AAAHHH!

"Mother! You _cannot_ do this!" I practically yelled.

"I'm sorry honey, but this is for your own benefit. It'll teach you survival skills," my mother said, her evil mind at work again.

"Is this because I didn't kill that cockroach this morning? You saw it! It was big and ugly!" I protested. "There's no reason why you couldn't have done it instead of me."

My mother sighed.

A few seconds ago she informed me she wanted to send me to 'Ironback Survival Camp'. The torture! Why me? I didn't _need_ survival camp. I've survived most of my first year in high school and teenagers are vicious (like animals). Isn't that nature enough for you?

But no! My mother wanted to send me to some survival camp because it would teach me the tools needed to survive in the real world. Please! I'll have maids by the time I'm 30 because I'll be running a huge software company. I don't _need_ survival skills. Those are for losers!

Just then my father came in with his briefcase. He uncoiled his tie and sighed as he sat down on his armchair. He put his feet up on the coffee table but that was only rewarded with a disapproving glare from my mother.

"Dad! Tell mom she can't do this," I whined, giving him my puppy dog eyes.

Unfortunately he was too tired to notice them. He waved his hand and tiredly mumbled, "Haley, listen to your mother. She knows best."

"But dad!" I whined.

Yet through all my whining my father was too tired to listen. My mother went over to him and put a pillow behind his head. She patted his back and soothingly said, "There, there, honey. It's ok, I'm here."

For some reason I thought that perhaps my parents were plotting this. Max was going to soccer camp and I'd be at Ironback. It would be the perfect opportunity for them to be alone together without us kids to bother them. Fat chance that would happen! Why would I risk my happiness just for _them_?

"This is SO unfair!" I yelled and ran up the stairs to my room where I slammed the door loud enough for them to hear downstairs. I wanted them to know just how frustrated and enraged I felt.

I lay on my bed, fuming at my mother. I got good grades, I never talked back to my elders, I had good behavior in school, I never did drugs, and I never cursed. Of course now I was reconsidering the last part. I stuffed my head in my pillow and made a frustrated groan.

A knock on the door caused me to take my head away from the pillow. I sighed, "Come in."

In walked my mother with a happy grin on her face. Obviously she knew she had won the little battle between us. She sat down at the foot of my bed and smoothed out her pants. She spoke, "Haley, dear, now listen to me. I know you don't like this, but this experience might be fun for you. It'll teach you the ways of the outdoors. Plus, _I'm_ the one who gives you your allowance. If you don't cooperate then … well … you get the idea."

OH MY GOSH! Are you kidding me? My own mother was blackmailing me!

I crossed my arms and looked away from her and nodded. I moaned, "Fine."

"Good. Now come downstairs. I'm making fish," she smiled, reverting back to her mother attitude. With that she left my room and I made a face at the thought of seafood. For some reason my mother had a different theme every week. Last week was Japanese food. This week was seafood. I HATED seafood and not to mention we had a lot of leftover sushi from last week.

To my dismay, sushi night was a big hit with the Fujioka Family and my mother just had to insist they come over this night too. This just added to my horror. Taryn Fujioka and I were the complete opposites. She was preppy, primp, and gossipy. All she wanted to talk about were her friends, but not the way you'd think. She wanted to talk something bad about them behind their backs. What kind of friend is that? But considering Taryn, they probably talked about _her_ behind her back too. Taryn even talked about _Jean_ behind her back.

When the doorbell rang and since nobody was around to answer it, I did. I opened the door and greeted the three Fujiokas. "Hello. Please, come in."

I had a fake smile on, so Dad was forced to have one too. Like me, he didn't like the Fujioka Family very much either. They just seemed to fake. And they acted so superior to us. So they had a little more cash than us, that didn't prove they were better people.

Mr. Fujioka was a car dealer and he was talking to my dad about buying a car last time he was here. Since my dad didn't need a new car he refused. Mr. Fujioka had an expression on his face that looked like 'well, you guys are poor so I was probably crazy to try and sell a car to you anyway.' That really set my dad off but luckily my mom was there to cool him off.

Mrs. Fujioka wasn't perfect either. My mom tried VERY hard to try and get along with her, which was probably why she kept inviting them to our house. They _were_ our neighbors after all. And they were the first people we met when we first moved to Bayville. Plus my mom was in a book club with her.

While Max was setting the table I was sitting on the couch with Taryn who was practically babbling on and on about some girl named Liza she really disliked. Taryn wasn't dumb so I couldn't call her an airhead. I guess I could call her someone who really wants revenge. Apparently Liza was going out with her ex-boyfriend a week after they broke up. I didn't care but Taryn went on and on. Then she began talking about another girl named Maura.

Finally, once mom was finished with the fish, everyone scrambled to the dinner table. The fish was in the middle and other dishes were placed around it. I didn't like seafood very much. I couldn't eat it even if it looked this decorative, so I forced myself even though I felt like barfing.

Taryn could see I was looking a little green so she leaned over and asked, "Are you ok?"

I nodded.

Suddenly the room was quiet when Mr. Fujioka began chocking. Apparently something was stuck in his throat. He began gagging. He stood up and literally began gagging!

"Oh my god! He's chocking!" his wife shrieked. Taryn stood up as well looking helplessly at her father.

I knew my father couldn't do anything about it, but my mother could. No offense to my father but my mother was the real savior in the family. Once in San Francisco my mom was in the supermarket and some robbers held it up. _Then_ a pregnant lady began to go into labor and my mom helped her give birth. _Then_ my mom talked the robbers into giving up into the police. All that _and_ she was able to make it to my parent/teacher conference. Yep. My mom was a real hero.

"Stand back!" my mom declared. She began giving Mr. Fujioka the Heimlich maneuver.

Apparently a fish bone was stuck in his throat. It zoomed across the room and hit Taryn right in the face.

"_You_ tried to murder my husband!" Mrs. Fujioka accused.

"What? I just saved his life! If it weren't for me he'd have to go to the emergency room. How would _that_ look on your reputation Mary? 'Husband Almost Dies Because He Can't Eat a Fish Properly'," my mom retorted.

Mrs. Fujioka gasped, "How dare you! You…you…murderer!"

My mother was just about to say something when suddenly my father intervened. He stood in front of mom like her knight in shining armor and spoke, "Don't you _ever_ dare call this woman a murderer. It was obviously an accident on your husband's part. It happens. Now I want you to apologize to her."

"Don't you talk to my wife like that," Mr. Fujioka said, standing in front of his own wife. "At least she isn't white trash like you."

"Wife? How can you respect her when she's wearing _that_? She looks like a prostitute!" my father retorted.

Max and I had the urge to laugh because it was true. Mrs. Fujioka may not have worn the skimpiest clothes but she sure did wear a lot of makeup. Every one of our mouths was hanging open.

Suddenly Mr. Fujioka raised his fist and it met right on target with my father's eye.

"Mark!" my mother cried

"Harry!" Mrs. Fujioka screamed.

My father went down, but not long after he was on his feet again and threw a fist at Mr. Fujioka's nose. _Now_ my father and Mr. Fujioka were at it. Max and I had never seen our father fight like that before. In fact we had never seen him fight AT ALL. Apparently Taryn had never seen this before either. My mom and Mrs. Fujioka were trying to separate their husbands from killing each other. In the process they started yelling at each other.

"Stop it father! You're embarrassing me!" Taryn shrieked.

"Well if your mother hadn't called _my_ mother a murderer, then this wouldn't have happened. All she needed to do was apologize," I said.

"Your mom _is_ a murderer. Where'd she learn to cook? Prison?" Taryn asked.

I gasped. Anger boiled inside of me. My mother was a GREAT cook. No, she was an OUTSTANDING cook.

"Get her Hales!" Max cheered.

Instantly, I lunged at Taryn and pinned her to the ground.

"OW! Ow! Ow!" Taryn yelled as I elbowed her in the ribs.

"Apologize," I commanded.

"No," Taryn said and she rolled over so that now I was on the bottom. She began pulling at my finely combed blonde hair, so in return I grabbed _her_ hair. The lights were going on and off and I knew it was coming from me. My anger was causing the lights to act this volatile probably because I was angry myself.

Taryn and I began wrestling each other and finally our parents pulled us apart from each other. Apparently my father and Mr. Fujioka were done fighting.

"This means _war_ Woodrow," Taryn cried.

"Come along Taryn! We're leaving!" Mrs. Fujioka said and pulled her daughter toward the door.

"You should probably pay your electricity bill," Mr. Fujioka sneered. My father glared but he knew better than to start beating him up again.

Max ran over and opened the door for them. Once each member of the Fujioka family had departed he slammed the door shut and sighed, "Good riddance."

My mother had brought an ice pack and gave it to my father. He put it to his eye while my mother was bandaging up his arm.

"Wow dad! I've never seen moves like that before!" Max exclaimed.

"Well, your old man used to be on the wrestling team in high school," my father boasted.

My mother shook her head. "Look at the example you've put for Max."

"They deserve it. I don't know why we put up with them in the beginning," my father said, shaking his head.

"Their out neighbors," my mom said, stating the obvious.

"Neighbors or not, it doesn't mean we have to take that kind of abuse," my father said.

Max sat on a dinner table chair and spoke, "That was so weird how the lights kept going on and off."

"You can say that again," I laughed sheepishly.

We stayed downstairs for a while, talking, when finally Max and I were put to sleep upstairs. While my mother was tucking me in bed I thought back to when Mr. Fujioka had said, "You should probably pay your electricity bill." The nerve of that guy!

"Now Haley I'm not going to ground you for what you did today, but I don't want to see that kind of display again, understand? I don't want you to go to school to fight bad guys. I want you to go to learn and get good grades and make the occasional boyfriend," my mother said.

"Mom!" I said.

"I'm not embarrassing you am I? We're not even in the public yet," my mother winked.

I rolled my eyes. She kissed my forehead and turned off the lamp on my bedside table. She walked out the door and closed it halfway, just the way I liked it. I couldn't sleep though. I stood up and walked over to the window. I had a good view of the Fujioka house and what should a bored mutant girl do when she can't go to sleep?

Closing my eyes, I concentrated my hands on the Fujioka house, which was brightly lit, contrary to our own house. We totally paid our electricity bills! I couldn't say the same for them however. The Fujioka house light flickered on and off. I could only do one room at a time and that already took way too much out of me.

Funny how I was finally tired enough to go to sleep now. I lay in my pink and white bed (my whole room was pretty much pink and white), and closed my eyes. I couldn't help the smile that crept up on my face.

My mother didn't want me to go to school to fight bad guys, huh?

I couldn't help but do the opposite.

* * *

**Violet:** That was a fun chapter to do. I hope you guys find it fun too. Don't forget to R/R. And if you have any suggestions for Haley's love interest (evo., canon, etc.) I'd really appreciate them. 


	13. Boot Camp

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**Chapter 13:** Boot Camp

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The week went by fast and before I knew it my family was waving goodbye to me as the schoolbus departed to the horrid "Ironback Survival Camp". I had heard horror stories from Natalie and Angie about this place. Natalie had gone last year and she said the guy who worked here was mean, green, and ugly. Of course when I saw him I didn't expect him to be green, but he _was_ mean and ugly.

"You will not be making wallets, necktie racks, or paperweights. You will not be engaging in potatosack races, waterballoon tosses or pony rides," Sergeant Hawke said. He was the head guy of the survival camp.

He was introducing me and the other kids about the camp. It seemed none of the kids were too fond of being here. They were forced into it just like I was by my manipulative mother who I dare not speak of.

The sergeant turned and got him some kid's face. He spat, "You will be taking twenty-mile hikes, repelling two hundred foot cliffs, and crossing treacherous water with no more than a rope and all the courage you can muster. Do you read me?"

The kids wiped some spit off his face. I looked over past him and saw that the "X-men" were here too. Scott Summers, Jean Grey, Kitty Pryde, Kurt Wagner, Rogue, and Evan Daniels were all here. I looked to my left to see the Brotherhood was here too: Pietro Maximoff, Lance Alvers, Fred Dukes, and Todd Tolensky. Just great! A mutant filled survival camp. Oh joy…

"Yes, Sergeant Hawke, sir," all the kids said in unison.

"I said, do you read me?" Sergeant Hawke asked.

"Yes Sergeant Hawke, sir," the kids repeated. I was getting tired of this…

Sergeant Hawke crossed his arms and said in a stern manner, "Welcome to Ironback Survival Camp. A name you won't soon forget."

He turned to face me and spoke, "Now, here we have a young lady, Haley Woodmorrow,-"

"Woodrow," I corrected, a little peeved he had gotten my last name wrong.

"-whose scholastic achievements at Bayville High have earned her the rank of group leader," he explained. "You will be following her lead. You've got ten minutes to stow your gear and report to the training field. Dismissed!"

Apparently no one was too happy with this. I know I certainly wasn't. Me? Group leader? Hello! I was "all brains" and "no brawns" remember? I couldn't lead these people, especially not without a leash. Why would they listen to anything I had to say?

I looked over at the X-men. Kitty slapped her forehead and groaned, "Oh, I'm gonna be dead in like, two days."

"What about me? I'm a city kid!" Evan complained.

"What did we ever do to deserve _this_?" Kurt asked, putting his hand under his chin.

"I'm goin' A.W.O.L. Anyone know how to hotwire a school bus?" Rogue asked, going towards the bus. I certainly didn't but I wished I did at the moment. I would give anything to leave this horrid place and return to my suburban life back in my home sweet home.

A smile adorned my face and I skipped toward my teammate. I spoke, "Come on Rogue. If we're enthusiastic about this whole thing, maybe it'll even be fun."

"You're just saying that aren't you?" Rogue inquired accusingly.

I nodded meekly and responded, "Yep."

"Thought so," Rogue said and walked back toward the bus.

Suddenly Mr. Knight Shining in Armor AKA Scott Summers appeared and grabbed Rogue's shoulder, causing her to stop in her tracks. He spoke, "Whoa, whoa. Slow down, Private. C'mon, we're not washin' out in front of the whole school. Besides, Professor X. endorses this place."

"Yeah, at least he gave us a choice; survival training here or with Wolverine," Jean said. Once she had said that everyone have a shudder. I didn't know what the big deal was so I just stood there, waiting for Rogue's response.

"Ugh, some choice," she said, crossing her arms indignantly.

So with that they picked up our stuff and grumbled (a lot). Evan looked out into the sky and groaned, "Man, Sgt. Hawke should really be told that I'm a city kid."

While the X-men walked away I stood behind. I looked behind me toward the Brotherhood. Lance, Todd, Blob, and Pietro were all standing in a line looking displeased as ever. I stood up and walked over to them.

"What's with you guys? At least _their_ trying," I chirped, gesturing toward the X-men. They didn't look happy and they didn't even look like they were trying but I pointed them out anyway. At least Jean was doing something. She was refilling her water bottle. That's something right?

"Group leader. Scholastic achievement," Fred grumbled and pointed at himself (with his thumb). "That shoulda been me."

"You can't even _spell_ scholastic achievement, _Blob_," Pietro remarked.

I waved my hands around in defense and spoke, "You think I _want_ to be group leader? I'd much rather it be you…well maybe not _you_…The point is I don't want to be group leader. Besides, it looks like Scott has already stolen that position from me anyway."

Looking over at Scott, I could see he was already barking orders at the X-men even though that was _my_ job. Even though I didn't want to be group leader, that didn't mean I appreciated Scott undermining me and making decision without me. The nerve!

"Whatever. I may not be able to spell scholastic achievement, but I can spell doomed," Fred said, punching his fist in his hand, "which is what that goody goody gang _is_ after _I_ get them alone in the woods."

"Yeah, I can hear it now: 'Search and rescue efforts abandoned for missin' teens. No traces found'," Todd laughed. He looked over at me and added, "You should really join in on the fun toots. I mean after all, you didn't join the X-geeks like I thought you would. Maybe you should stick around with us."

I crossed my arms and made a face. I spoke, "Just because I didn't join the X-men doesn't mean I'm going to join you guys either."

With that I spun on my heel and walked away.

Later that day we were rock climbing. Everyone was hanging from a rope. Jean was in the lead followed by Kurt, Scott, and Lance. Then came Pietro, Kitty, me, Evan, Todd, and at the very bottom was Fred. I looked down to where Fred was. He wasn't even on the rope yet.

"Argh! I'm not built for this kind of stuff," I could hear him grumble.

I looked up and saw how competitive Scott and Lance were being. I was the group leader! Shouldn't I be doing something about this? Apparently no one cared that I was group leader though. When I reached the top I saw that Scott and Lance were making their way toward a pulley thing. It was like an elevator and they were pulling themselves to the bottom. There they rushed toward some inflatable rafts.

When the rest of the "team" and I reached the inflatable rafts Lance asked Scott, "You swim?"

"Yeah," Scott said, puzzled.

"Pity," Lance smirked devilishly.

He held out his hand and the ground under Scott began shaking. It toppled him into the stream.

"Hey! That cheatin' chump!" Evan called out, enraged. Spikes popped out from his forearms and he began to fling them when suddenly Jean appeared behind him to stop him.

"Listen, we agreed not to use any powers out here, remember?" she said. "You know, just man against nature."

"That guy needs his boat _popped_," Evan pointed.

"Yeah, well, Scott's cool. He'll handle it like a team player should," Jean said.

I crossed my arms and just watched the scene unfold before me. I wasn't psychic or anything but something told me Jean was wrong. In the stream, Lance paddled along. Seeing the finish line on the other bank, he began to paddle faster when suddenly Scott fired at him and tipped the boat over.

Jean scowled.

Scott took Lance's raft. Back on the bank, the X-Men (except Jean) jumped and cheered while Scott got to shore and ran through the 'FINISH' banner with his arms up like a dork. Sergeant Hawke blew his whistle as Lance glared from the water and punched it. Evan and Kurt high-fived as the X-Men continued to cheer, minus Jean. Obviously she was not impressed by Scott's display of 'using your powers when your not supposed to.'

"That loser Scott should have lost and you know it!" Fred said, pointing at Jean angrily.

"Yeah, just because he slipped and took a bath, the guy went ballistic!" Pietro accused.

The X-men and Brotherhood both glared at each other. Obviously they had this rivalry for a long time.

"Slipped? More like avalanched!" Kurt yelled.

"He stole that first place ribbon," Todd said, pointing his dirty, grimy index finger at Kurt.

"He did not!" Kitty yelled.

"You want that ribbon so bad? I'll pin it to your forehead!" Rogue yelled at Todd.

Frustrated I watched the scene unfold before me. For a group leader, I wasn't a very good one. Annoyed, I put my hands to me ears. I was the only one amongst them who wasn't taking any sides. In fact, I didn't really care.

"SHUT-UP!" I barked.

This didn't get their attention though. So I did the only thing I could. I used my powers.

Rubbing my hands together, I extended them forward. A light shot straight ahead, making a line between the X-men and Brotherhood for a moment. It disappeared. Finally the arguing ceased and everyone looked at me.

"Haley, you shouldn't use your powers like that," Jean said, shaking her head.

"Yeah, well, you guys gave me no choice," I said, shrugging.

"Don't try to control her Red," Lance said. "She already dumped _you_ guys. Don't think you can change her mind."

"I am _not_ trying to control her!" Jean said.

Great. My interference had only caused a bigger problem. Now the two teams were arguing _again_. It was rather flattering though considering they were arguing about _me_. Then again it could have just been an excuse to start arguing _again_ and try to win that argument. Oh well. I tried.

Suddenly Sergeant Hawke appeared. He glared at every one of us and then blew his whistle.

We were forced to do pushups.

"…Fifty-seven, fifty-eight, fifty-nine, sixty," we chanted.

Fred collapsed.

"Now on your feet," Sergeant Hawke ordered.

My wobbling legs found it hard to get up off the ground, but they managed to. I groaned and rubbed my back.

"Here at Ironback, we got ways to weed the loudmouths from the tough guys. We fight it out in the wilderness, _against_ the wilderness. You grunts wanna prove how tough you are?" Sergeant Hawke asked. He adjusted his hat and pointed at Lance. "Fine! First team to snatch a flag I planted up there on Mt. Humiliation and brings it back to me, wins. Since this team seems to be in competition with each other Scott Sumner will be in charge of _this_ team and Haley Woodmorrow will be in charge of _that_ team."

Oh great! Just great! Scott gets to be in charge of the X-men and _I_ get stuck with Brotherhood. Just wonderful! If you haven't picked up on the sarcasm here yet, you should. I looked up at where Mt. Humiliation was. It was rather large and covered with snow.

"Cakewalk. Our team can take a sauna. I'll get it myself," Pietro said, pointing at himself.

Pietro was the fastest person and mutant I had ever met. Obviously he was the best choice.

"Not if _I_ beat you there," Kurt said, pointing at himself. But so was Kurt, considering his 'teleportation'. The German accented boy crossed his arms and smiled smugly.

"The _whole_ team or no one! As proof, I want a snapshot of every member right there at the top," Sergeant Hawke thundered. "Are we clear?"

"Sir, yes, sir," we mumbled.

"You leave in five from opposite trails. Be ready," Sergeant Hawke growled and with that left.

I was ready to collapse on the rocky ground. I was SO not ready to deal with being in charge of the Brotherhood. It didn't really matter though. They wouldn't listen to a word I said. The problem was how to deal with them.

"Better say your farewells, _Sumner_," Lance said, "'cause you guys _aren't _comin' back."

"Oh, you got somethin' in mind, rock tumbler?" Scott asked, and began taking his glasses off. "'Cause I-"

Suddenly Jean appeared and grabbed Scott's arm.

"Scott, what do you think you're doing?" she asked.

"What? Nothing! I'm just fed up with those delinquents gettin' away with everything while we're stuck playin' by the rules," Scott said, exasperated.

Lance cocked an eyebrow. He spoke, "Hey! We don't need our powers to beat you."

"Oh, fine, then! We'll all play it straight and you know what? We'll wave to you from the top!" Scott challenged.

Lance and Scott walked away from each other, glaring. Could I possibly survive with the Brotherhood? Scott was right. They didn't play by the rules and I didn't want to get hurt because of that. Oh well.

I ran toward my teammates in order to catch up.

After a while I found my self on the edge of the mountain, clinging to the wall. I screamed when suddenly a loosened rock began to topple over. I closed my eyes waiting for it to smash on top of me when suddenly I felt myself being lifted off the ground and wind rushing past me. When I opened my eyes I found Pietro next to me.

"Thanks?" I asked, unsure.

Pietro shrugged.

Ok, so maybe the Brotherhood wasn't _that_ heartless. But still…

After a while we were now on the side of the mountain. Todd was having a great time. He could easily cling to the side of the mountain because of the way he was built – toad like.

"What's takin' you boys so long?" he asked.

I coughed loudly.

"And girl," Todd said, looking back at me.

I was behind him and further down was Fred, Pietro, and Lance. Fred was punching and kicking holds in the rock face while Lance and Pietro were attached to him with rope.

"Man, if he slips and falls, we are _history_. Death by blubber bomb," I heard Pietro say.

"Fastest way to the top is a straight line, Pietro. We are _winnin'_ this race, make no mistake," Lance said. He really wanted to win this thing, although I didn't entirely agree with him on his method. I knew better then to argue with him though.

While climbing on the rope I suddenly felt myself slip. I began to fall and I screamed LOUD. All of a sudden I felt my hand being caught. I looked up and saw that Fred had caught my arm. He lifted me up so that I was on the rope again. Phew!

Maybe I had underestimated the Brotherhood completely?

After a while we finally reached the top to the ledge. Todd, Fred, and I were there but Pietro and Lance were still dangling from the rope that was harnessed around Fred.

"Hey, Freddy, a helpin' hand?" Lance asked.

Fred pulled them up while the groaned in pain. "Uh! Uh, uh, uh, ow, ow, yah! Stop! Uh!" "Ah! Ow! Ow, ow, ow, ow, hey! Ow, stop!"

Lance and Pietro untied the rope from around them. We were now all standing at the entrance to an abandoned mine. It was boarded up with a large 'KEEP OUT' sign painted on it.

"An abandoned mine?" Lance asked, cocking his head.

"Toad's checkin' for a short-cut," Fred explained.

I took in a deep breath. Ok, that was it! I was not going in some abandoned mine where I could surely die! Uh-uh! _No way_!

"Um, Lance, this probably isn't a good idea," I said.

"Look, you want to win this too right?" Lance asked.

"Sure," I shrugged, "but not to the extent of getting myself killed! I'm not gregarious enough to do that!"

Ooh, 'gregarious'. Good word Hales.

"Your German?" Fred asked dumbly.

I shook my head.

Todd appeared from the inside and spoke, "Hey, there's a tunnel in there that's like a stairway to the top."

"Now you're talkin'! That flag is ours!" Lance said. He ripped off the board and began to go inside when I spoke up.

"Lance!" I cried. Like the rest of the Brotherhood he ignored me so I had no choice but to follow them. Stupid me!

The rest of the Brotherhood and I ran after Todd as he hopped along the tunnel. He stopped at the end of the tunnel. A ladder was set against the wall, going up into a lighted area. Looking up to where the shaft was, only a pinhole of light was coming through. Enraged, Lance slammed Todd against the wall.

"You bonehead! We can't get through there!" Lance yelled. The mine began shaking. "We're probably lost 'cause a' you!

Nobody listens to the intellectual blonde. Tsk. Tsk.

"I-I kinda figured you could uh, y'know, avalanche it loose a little bit?" Todd stammered.

"He's right. Give it some more juice, Lance, and you'll unclog it," Pietro said.

"What! No! This is crazy! I forbid you to use your powers Lance!" I shouted.

Lance, much like before, ignore me.

As the mine began to shake and suddenly a rock tumbled loose. It began to cave in. I screamed as the other Brotherhood members shouted in fear. I closed my eyes collapsed on the dirt filled ground. Closing my eyes, I awaited for the tumbling rocks to crush us. Nothing happened.

I looked up and saw that a yellow light shield had appeared. It was flickering on and off causing some small rocks to enter the shield. The Brotherhood was fine but if I didn't hold this shield up long enough they might NOT be fine. Something told me this shield wouldn't last long. My energy was slowly weakening.

Looking up I saw the presence of Kitty. I was slightly jolted with a startle and the shield vanished as quick. I felt my body tingle and weird sensation spread over it. Was I dieing?

After a while I found myself outside. I was lying on the ground with my back to the surface. The X-men were all crowded around me. I assumed Kitty was the one to save me. I sat up and spoke, "The Brotherhood-"

"Are fine," Scott said.

The Brotherhood were brushing dust off of themselves. Fred pointed at the flag which was not to faraway. The giant mutant spoke, "Pietro?"

"I'm there," Pietro said knowingly. With that he sped off past Kurt, Kitty, and Evan.

Kurt glared. "Hey!" He teleported.

Suddenly the sky seemed to darken. I looked up and saw a monstrous blue jet plane that I quickly recognized as the Black Bird that Jean had showed me when I went to the Xavier Institute. It was clouding over the sun, thus casting a shadow over us.

"X-Men, Professor X is in danger and so is Mystique," a voice said over the P.A.

"Up to it?" Scott asked, glancing at Lance.

"Let's go," Lance smirked.

"Haley?" Kitty asked.

I shrugged. Might as well.

When we arrived inside the X-Jet everyone was in uniform (except me). Flying in the X-Jet was like being on a roller coaster. And I absolutely LOVED roller coasters. It took a lot out of me not to wave my hands around in glee.

When we arrived at the Xavier Institute, I followed the rest of the crowd since I didn't know where exactly to go. The lovely 'Storm"' had already explained the 'mission'. I honestly felt like a superhero.

We stood in the doorway as 'Cyclops' called out, "Take a break, Wolverine!"

"We'll take it from here," Avalanche said.

"Well, now, this is a surprise," Mystique said, sounding shocked.

I gasped, as a large man wearing an orange bodysuit was ready to grab Professor Xavier.

Jean closed her eyes and rubbed her temples as she began lifting the large man into the air with her telekinesis. I ran into the room, not sure how to help.

"Cain's helmet … remove it!" the intimidating Wolverine said, struggling to speak.

'Juggernaut' reached out for Jean when suddenly Blob appeared, blocking his way. Blob smirked, "Unstoppable? Meet the unmovable."

Nightcrawler teleported on top of Juggernaut's back and began unbuckling one of the buckles on the helmet before Juggernaut picked him up and hurled him off. Juggernaut growled and charged at Blob. As a result the large mutant was flung to the opposite side of the room. He then looked at me and began charging at _me_. I gulped and slipped on the ground underneath him so that now I appeared on the other side of him. I rubbed my hands and sent a small speck of light toward the large mutants helmet where another buckle was undone. He growled. His voice thundered across the room. Furious, the large mutant began coming at me. I bit my bottom lip when suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked behind me to see a blue Kurt. It was a little unnerving to be around him since he looked so elfish/devilish, but I knew better than to judge someone based on their looks (unless they look like they've been doing drugs).

Cyclops crouched in front of Juggernaut and fired at him. The enrage mutant picked up a mace from the ground and chucked it at Cyclops. He dived out of the way. Avalanche sent a tremor under Juggernaut's feet. He fell onto his hands and knees. Quicksilver ran onto his back and undid another helmet buckle. Juggernaut got up and Quicksilver tumbled off. Storm appeared and sent some wind Juggernaut's way. He fell down again. Shadowcat and Rogue phased through the wall in front of him.

"Get the latch!" Rogue called.

Shadowcat and Rogue got the last two buckles undone and ran off. Juggernaut got up again. Toad leapt onto the wall and grabbed onto Juggernaut's helmet with his tongue. The orange suited man grabbed his head.

"Argh! No!" he cried in vain.

"I'm sorry Cain," Professor Xavier said.

The large man began to loose consciousness, his hand inches away from the old man's wheelchair. We all began to cheer and rushed toward the Professor.

"Now, there's something you won't see every day," the blue skinned, red head woman said. She still gave me the creeps but right now I wasn't the object of her attention.

That day I learned that the Brotherhood wasn't as heartless as I assumed them to be. That was a big fault mainly on my part. Still, that didn't mean they were the perfect angels. I knew I couldn't completely trust them but now I knew they weren't _completely_ bad. They _were_ bad just not to the extent of being heartless. Oh just forget it!

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**Violet:** I'm still looking for some suggestions of love interests for Haley. Remember to R/R. 


	14. Home Alone

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**Chapter 14: **Home Alone

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Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

Yawning, I shifted over in my bed and slammed a fist on the snooze button on my alarm clock. Stupid alarm clocks! Their purpose was to make my life horrible by waking me up to early. I looked at the clock and let out an involuntary gasp as it read: 5:00. I then sighed remembering this was indeed the time I had set it to. Today Max and I would be visiting the aunt from _hell._ I don't usually use the word 'hell', but in this case 'hell' was exceptional. While my parents went to Switzerland to celebrate their anniversary, Max and I'd be spending Spring Vacation with Aunt Margot in Florida.

She was a tall, skinny lady related to my dad because unfortunately they shared the same set of parents. Aunt Margot served tofu since she was vegetarian and had exactly four husbands in her lifetime. She was currently single and out of all the people to send Max and me to, it just _had_ to be Aunt Margot. Dad of course thought well about his only sister but Mom wasn't much of a fan. I couldn't blame her. Aunt Margot would always talk about how Dad could've done better than our mom. Max and I didn't appreciate that very much either.

Max and I got into the van where a bunch of suitcases were loaded. Spike, our Labrador retriever, was sitting in the last seat while Max and I were in front of him. In front of us was the driver's seat where my dad sat and next to him was mom. It was nice to see how committed mom and dad were to each other that they would plan a vacation to Switzerland, not to mention that Dad had come up with this when Mom had put him on the spot about their anniversary (he totally forgot and he almost didn't get the plane tickets to Switzerland but he managed to 'pull some strings'). Why send us to Aunt Margot? She was like a vulture. Ugh! (Dad said she was lonely. I'd be lonely too if I just had four husbands!)

Max and I waved at our parents from the terminal

"Take care of your brother, dear," Mom said sweetly. "You'll have a blast with Aunt Margot."

She hugged me and suddenly I felt her slip something into my pocket. She whispered, "Here's the phone number of the hotel we're staying at and the extension number. Call us in case that vulture – I mean Aunt Margot does anything to upset you guys. Ok?"

I nodded awkwardly.

Once my mom released me from our hug she went back to her sweet smile. She spoke, "You two have fun."

As Mom and Dad walked off Max and I waved goodbye to them. I looked over at Max who cocked his head. Obviously he had seen that display with Mom. He asked, "What was _that_ all about?"

"Our mom's weird," I said, shaking my head.

"Tell me something I _don't_ know," Max said and walked off.

On the plane Max and I were seated together but also with a stranger. Max had the seat next to the window and I was stuck in the middle next to the stranger. He was potbellied fellow who looked like an obvious tourist. He wore a sunhat, Hawaiian shirt, and everything. His family was in the row behind us. His head constantly slipped from the headrest on his side to my shoulder. His breath was _really_ bad too.

I sighed thankfully and was very relieved once we arrived at the Orlando, Florida airport. The potbellied fellow left with his family and Max and I were free to leave the plane. We arrived at baggage claim and took all our belongings as well as Spike. He was very relieved to see us and constantly licked our cheeks. Something told me he hadn't had a very comforting experience during _his_ flight either.

A scream suddenly made my stomach lurch.

"Aah! My favorite nephew and niece! Come here! Give your Aunt Margot a kiss," she screamed, running toward us.

I looked at Max and he nervously smiled. The vulture – er – Aunt Margot ruffled Max's hair and kissed his cheek, making a large imprint of red lipstick on his check.

"Yuck," he mumbled and attempted to rub it off with his hand.

"Haley! You've grown so much since the last time I saw you. What are you 12 now?" she asked.

"15," I corrected.

"How the years have _flown_ by," she chuckled. "So, you got a boyfriend?"

"No," I stammered.

"Are you telling me a vixen like yourself couldn't snag a few hunks back in Bayville? I bet their just shy," Aunt Margot laughed, "Trust me, the boys here are a lot more friendly than the ones back in _Bayville_."

She winked at me causing me to shudder at the thought. Max shuddered as well and stuck his tongue out in disgust. Max and I grabbed our suitcases with absolutely no help from Aunt Margot. Even Spike managed to carry a bag despite the dog slobber.

"So Max. A playboy like yourself must've broken some heart," Aunt Margot stated.

"Not yet," Max mumbled, tiring out from the weight of the suitcases.

"What? I would've expected more from you. Remember that Angelica from your birthday party? She was _all_ over you," Aunt Margot said.

"First of all, I was five, and second of all, Angelica was deranged. She tried kissing me all the time. That's one reason why I'm glad she moved to Africa," Max said, shaking his head. He dragged a suitcase on the floor next to me.

"Kissing _you_ is the deranged part," I laughed.

Max glared at me but Aunt Margot found it funny.

"Be nice to your brother Haley. I grew up with _four_ including your dad. If your nice to them now, then they won't hate you forever," Aunt Margot explained.

We finally arrived at Aunt Margot's house. The neighborhood was very nice and Aunt Margot had very nice lawn. Max and I carried our bags to the room we'd be sharing. It had two separate twin beds and the ceiling was painted blue with glow in the dark stars. A little too childish for me, but I had to deal with it.

"Make yourselves at home," Aunt Margot said and with that she left. I flopped down on one of the twin beds while Max did the same on the other.

"This is a nightmare!" I sighed.

"No kidding," Max mumbled.

By dinnertime Max and I came downstairs to see Aunt Margot flinching and very distraught. Her hair was a mess and the dishes all over the place. She paced up and down the floor mumbling something to herself and playing with her fingers.

"Aunt Margot's finally lost it. She's having a nervous breakdown. Think we should call 9-1-1?" Max asked me as we surveyed her from the stairs.

I gave him a look and spoke, "She is _not_ having a nervous breakdown. She's just…"

Max gave me a look, waiting for my explanation. I shrugged and we looked back to Aunt Margot. Suddenly the sound of the phone of ringing caused her to literally jump up in surprise. She went over and grabbed the phone, playing with the cord with her fingers.

"Yes?" she answered, "this is her…yeah, no problem…I'll be there right away."

After hanging up, she ran over to the table, grabbed her purse and ran out the door. The door swung open again and she came running back inside. She grabbed her car keys and called, "Haley! Max! I'm going out! Don't wait up for me!"

With that our infamous aunt left the house, locked the door, and the sound of her car pulling out could be heard.

"What's with her?" I wondered.

Max shrugged.

The rest of the night I put some popcorn in the microwave and we ended up watching a bunch of movies the whole night eating popcorn and drinking soda. We laid there on the sofa and then Max suggested we order pizza so I grabbed the phone. After looking in the yellow pages I dialed the phone number and ordered a box of pepperoni pizza.

Max and I sat on the sofa in our pajamas when suddenly the doorbell rang.

"Must be the pizza guy," I said.

I ran over to the door and started, "How long does it take to-"

Stopping mid sentence I looked up at NOT the pizza guy but a woman dressed in all black. I backed away slightly from the door and was about to say something but found no words to escape my mouth. I just stood there like a dork with my mouth hanging open.

"Hales? Is it the pizza guy?" Max called from the living room.

"Actually-" I began.

The woman looked over at the living room at where Max was sitting. My idiot brother turned around and met his eyes with the woman dressed in black. Like me, his mouth was hanging open just as wide if not wider.

Her eyes met with mine and suddenly the nails on her fingers began to grow exponentially and they looked a lot more like metal. I backed away from her as she extended these metal nails at me.

I screamed and shot my hands forward, sending a surge of light directly at her. It hit her square in the stomach and she was sent flying out the door. I ran over and shut the door, locking it, and then putting a chair by the knob. It probably wouldn't hold her out of the house considering she had metal nails that could slice the door in half.

"Who was that?" Max asked, "and what did you just do?"

"It's a long story," I breathed and grabbed his arm. I led him upstairs where hopefully the metal nails lady wouldn't look for us.

Who was she? Was she a kidnapper? My aunt didn't have too much money. Was she a burglar? Do burglars have razor sharp nails? Was she a mutant? It was highly likely. The sound of the door exploding caught Max and mine's attention and we ran toward our bedroom. Our room had a phone so we could easily dial 9-1-1.

I ran over to the phone and picked it up. The sound of a dial tone was signaled so I pressed a series of 3 digits. As the ringing presided finally a woman answered the phone, "Hello. This is the Bayside Police Station. Please state the matter of your crime. For a homicide press 1, for arson press 2, to signal an amber alert press 3, to-"

I hung up. Obviously the police weren't going to be much help.

"What do we do?" Max asked.

"I don't know," I moaned.

The sound of something clattering could be heard from downstairs. This metal nails lady was making a mess and I knew Aunt Margot would so totally not appreciate that. I sighed when suddenly the phone began to ring. There was only one line in Aunt Margot's house and the metal nails lady could obviously hear it. I ran over to the phone and answered it.

"Hello?" I whispered.

"Haley, I need you to do something for me," Aunt Margot's voice said.

"Uh-huh," was my only response. I had to tell her that we were being held hostage by a metal nails lady!

"There's a floppy disk located in my study, it's in my drawer in the first row, third down. It's called: Weapon X and I need you to keep it safe for me," she explained.

"What?" I breathed.

"A woman by the name of Lady Deathstrike is going to come to my house. I need you to take the floppy disk and go to the neighbors, understood?" Aunt Margot asked.

"But-" I was about to say. The line went dead.

Oh no! Ok. Ok. Breath:

Lady Deathstrike, the woman who had metal nails, had come to Aunt Margot's house looking for a disk called 'Weapon X'. If she had been listening in on the call from Aunt Margot then she knew where the disk was. I mentally screamed in my head. Go out there! Get the disk? Fight the intimidating lady with metal nails? Was I in the right mind to do something like that?

"Max, stay here," I ordered.

"What? What are you going to do?" Max asked. "And who was on the phone."

Without answering is inquiries I ran out the room, slamming the door shut. I looked around the second story area, trying to remember which door led to Aunt Margot's study. I ran for the door to my right but it only led to her room. I opened the door next to it and BINGO!

I ran over to the computer desk and looked over at the series of drawers next to it. Ok, try and remember Haley. Which drawer was it? First row, I looked at the first row of drawer that went down. Third down, I looked at the last drawer in the first row and opened it.

"Damn," I hissed. It was locked. Just great! How does Aunt Margot expect _me_ to save the world if I couldn't even open the drawer?

I looked at my hand and began rubbing them together. My powers were my only hope. I focused them on the drawer lock and focused my energy onto my hands. Suddenly the door kicked open and there stood Lady Deathstrike and incredibly long metal nails.

She did a series of twirls and scratched me right on my arm, causing some blood to soak out. OWWW!

Then, the woman dressed in black (who was also Chinese), looked over at the drawers. She slashed the bottom drawer on the first row and it split in half. A bunch of 'stuff' spilled out but the only thing of value was the floppy disk entitled 'Weapon X'. Lady Deathstrike grabbed it and sped out the door.

Oh no! She couldn't and _wouldn't_ run away from _me_.

I ran after her out the door and shot my hands forward. A surge of light spilled out and hit her square in the back. It sent her flying, but she managed to land on her feet downstairs.

"Wait!" I cried. She began to run to where the door _used_ to be when suddenly she tripped and the floppy disk released from her grip. It slid all the way to the other side of the room where a hand grabbed it. I looked on to see Max and a thin wire on the floor that stretched to one chair to another. Apparently this had tripped Lady Deathstrike. Wow.

She looked up angrily at Max and lunged at him. He ran and threw the floppy disk at me. "Catch!"

I ran over and caught the floppy disk, almost tripping myself in the process. Lady Deathstrike looked from Max to me. She glared and ran over to me. I screamed and suddenly a light shield popped up, blocking Lady Deathstrike from me. Max watched in awe as I had done this. The shield disappeared and I ran.

"Max!" I yelled and threw the floppy disk to him. He ran to the kitchen where the back door presided. Lady Deathstrike followed him. She ran to the open back door when suddenly a bucket filled with water toppled over and splashed her head to toe. Max cackled from the other side of the door and closed it in the process. Now Lady Deathstrike was outside. That didn't mean it could keep her out for good.

"Come on" I ordered Max and we ran to the front door. Once we opened the door we were looking at about half a dozen police cars, an ambulance, even a helicopter! I looked over at Max who was holding the floppy disk. Aunt Margot rushed toward us and embraced us into a hug. A man with a toothpick in his mouth and an eye patch behind her looked at Max.

Knowingly, Max handed the floppy disk entitled 'Weapon X' to him.

"Thanks to you kids this disk will be in more safer hands," the man said.

"The Chinese lady! She ran out the backdoor!" Max said, pointing back to the house where the front door had been smashed.

"Her name is Lady Deathstrike. Apparently she's been looking for this disk for a _long_ time. When she found out _I_ had it I got a call from Mr. Nick Fury here warning me," Aunt Margot said. "He's part of an organization called S.H.I.E.L.D."

"S.H.I.E.L.D?" Max asked, interested.

"Margot has a tendency to blurt things out. She's been working for us for 20 years. She retired 3 years ago," Fury explained.

"And I _never_ knew about this until now!" I said, shocked. A secret organization called S.H.I.E.L.D! My vulture of an aunt actually used to be an agent for a super secret CIA! Oh yeah, my life is just getting simpler.

Aunt Margot shrugged.

Max and I sat in the ambulance while the nurse bandaged my arm. Max looked at me and asked, "Haley. I need to ask, what did you do back there?"

I sighed. If I could tell anyone about me being a mutant and trust them to keep it secret, it had to be my annoying, idiot brother Max. So I started to tell him the long story. From start to finish – from when I saw Scott use his mutant power to Evan use his mutant power at the basketball game to when I learned about the X-men and Brotherhood and finally to when I, myself, became a mutant (ironically as it was).

"It all makes sense now!" Max said. He was very naïve and so I wasn't surprised how fast he had come to terms with this. I wasn't even surprised that he didn't think I was lying or anything. Yep, that was Max all right.

"Yeah," I sighed.

"How come _I'm_ not a mutant?" Max asked.

"I don't know," I said, annoyed.

"Maybe if I think real hard I'll start reading your mind."

"I don't think so."

"What if I squeeze my eyes shut and lasers pop out?"

"That doesn't make sense."

"Ok, maybe if I think of Paraguay I'll teleport there."

"…"

"What?"

"Your crazy!"

"_You're _the dumb blonde."

"Hey! No trash talk about the hair!"


	15. The Best of the Worst

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**Chapter 15: **The Best of the Worst

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"Go away!" I screamed, throwing the nearest pillow I could find at Max.

The little brat simply dodged it and stuck his tongue out at me.

"Come on, sis. Do it again," Max said.

"No."

"_Please_."

"Fine!"

Taking a deep breath, I raised my hand in front of Max. Suddenly a bright light popped out and hovered above the palm of my hand. Slowly it began shrinking tinier and tinier until it became invisible.

"Do something else," Max urged.

"No!" I barked.

Ever since he found out what I was and what I could do, he would _not_ leave me alone. It was nice that he wasn't invading my privacy anymore but now he wouldn't leave me alone. He was following me around _everywhere_ and the fear of him exposing my little secret was becoming bigger and bigger.

Luckily Max didn't freak out when he found out about me but still, who knows what Mom and Dad's reaction would be? And plus, I wasn't exactly ready for the whole world to know. Not just yet.

"Look. I have to go to Angie's house so stop bugging me," I sighed. Angie, Natalie, and I had made plans to go to the beach.

"_Fine_," Max grumbled.

With that he walked off.

When I arrived outside of Angie's house in my mom's car, I scurried out of the car, not before kissing my mother goodbye. I ran up to the front door and pressed the doorbell. A few seconds later Angie's mother opened the door and let me inside.

I admired the artwork around the house as I walked upstairs to Angie's room. Whenever I came inside I felt like I walked into a museum. Angie's grandfather used to own a museum and the artwork mainly was derived from there. The family liked to boast their Chinese heritage and to be honest, I would too if I were them.

"Hey," I greeted.

Natalie was sprawled on the bed reading a magazine and listening to Angie talk.

"Hey," my two friends greeted me.

"We thought about going to the beach instead," Angie said.

"Oh?" I asked.

"Dad gave me Duncan's old car so I could drive us all there," Natalie shrugged.

I recalled the used, but still nice car parked on the curb that I had seen on my way into the house. Natalie had gotten her license a long time ago but after getting her first car totaled, she had to wait for her brother Duncan to pass his car on to her. Apparently today was that day.

"I didn't bring my bathing suit," I said robotically. I had always been seasick, ever since I was little.

"So? We could just hang out by the shore. And they have this really cool seafood restaurant," Natalie said.

I made a face at the mention of seafood. "Fine, but you guys owe me."

Angie and Natalie smiled, looking at each other.

We all went downstairs and the outside after Angie informed her parents about where she was going. I managed to get the seat next to Natalie before Angie so she was stuck sitting in the back. Natalie started the engine and so we were off to the beach.

The ride seemed longer than it was. The smell of the ocean was making me slightly queasy and I had to beg Angie to close the window up where she was sitting. I sighed when she finally did but that didn't put my mind at ease.

Up ahead was the X-Jeep with Kurt, Evan, Kitty, and Rogue and behind was the Brotherhood Jeep with Lance, Pietro, and Todd. Either Fred was too big to fit in or he decided not to come. I contemplated the only reason why the Brotherhood would be at the beach coincidentally at the same time as their enemy.

"Um, Natalie?" I asked.

"Hmm?" Natalie asked.

"Maybe we should go back," I suggested, knowing that Brotherhood + X-men: TROUBLE. Kind of moronic, but true.

"Relax Hales. Maybe if you hold your breath you'll feel better," Natalie said nonchalantly.

"It's not that-" I began. How was I supposed to tell them that the Brotherhood and X-men were going to go into an all out mutant war?

"Is that Kurt?" Angie asked, her face turning pink. She looked up ahead at the back of Kurt's head. In the last couple of days, it had become apparent she had developed an attraction to the blue haired teen.

"Guys, _please_," I pleaded in vain.

I looked behind me at the Brotherhood. From their expression I knew that their plan didn't include us being there.

Suddenly the ground began to shake and the rocks on the top of the cliff began to give way. They hurtled down the cliff, barely missing the X-Jeep. Natalie stopped the car.

"What the-" she began.

"Natalie!" Angie screamed, shaking the teen girl. Natalie looked up, horrified to see more rocks hurtling towards us.

The next thing I knew a puff of smoke appeared, a blue hand touched Natalie's car and we were now meters away from the road. Angie opened the door and stepped into the sand.

"What just happened?" she asked wide-eyed.

"A miracle?" Natalie asked.

I looked up ahead to see tiny figures in the distance as small as ants. I knew the person who had saved us must've been Kurt. I quickly told Natalie and Angie to stay put while I ran to the figures up ahead. I didn't stop running until I reached the battle going on between the X-men and the Brotherhood.

"Come to save your X-buddies?" a voice asked.

I recognized the voice as Pietro but he was too fast for me to pinpoint in one place. The sand he kicked up was beginning to turn into a sandstorm and I was forced to close my eyes.

"Stop it," I growled.

Through the sand I could vaguely make out Fred plop on top of Kitty's frail body. I gasped and in doing so inhaled some sand in my mouth. Stupid me.

Growling I put my hand forward and gave off a blast of light. The first time I missed but the second time I hit right on target and Pietro was sent blasting away from me. I coughed in disgust of the sand. I probably had sand in my underwear by now.

Kitty came phasing through the Blob, the expression on her face identifying a queasy feel. "Yuck! Blob-ola. I like totally need a shower now."

With that she fainted and I ran over to her side. I wasn't sure what to do but I managed to drag her away from the fighting. I looked on and found Pietro had covered Evan completely in sand, only leaving his head on the surface. Kurt was covered in rocks and Rogue had managed to beat up Todd, not that he was worth much.

I backed away slightly as Rogue looked ready to pound the remaining Brotherhood boys after seeing what they had done. I wasn't happy about it as much as Rogue was, but I didn't want to get beat up either.

Pietro raced behind me and lifted me up off the ground. He raced back to where everyone else was and put me back on the ground.

Lance put a hand on Rogue's shoulder. "Relax Rogue, it's over."

"And here comes your reward," Fred said, looking up.

I raised my eyebrow in confusion when suddenly spherical pod like things appeared from the sky. There were five for each of us, or so it seemed. I was in one of those classic scenarios. My mind was telling me to run but my feet would listen.

The pods opened up and claw like things grabbed Rogue. Another pair of claw like things came out of a different one and latched onto my waist. I screamed and began pounding on the metal things but they kept pulling me inside the pods. Forming a ball of light in my hands, I threw it at the metal claws. Although a managed little sparks from the claws, I was still trapped. Suddenly a green gas sprayed out at my face and I felt my head getting lighter. I closed my eyes. Darkness.

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**Violet:** I am so sorry about the delayed update but I've been really busy. School is being really hectic and I was on a long vacation during the summer. Again, I'm sorry for keeping you waiting and I hope this chapter was worth the wait. R/R. 


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